Molecular and Genetic Analysis of Root Cell Shape Regulationin Arabidopsis thaliana

植物根的形态是由组成单个根细胞的数量和形状决定的。根细胞的形状反过来又是环境因素影响基本遗传程序的结果。在简单植物拟南芥中，通过对根细胞形状突变体的遗传筛选，已经确定了根细胞形状决定的基因座。许多这些根细胞形状突变体的表型通过降低有效乙烯水平而得到改善。这些依赖乙烯的细胞形状突变体似乎在根中定义了一条或多条途径，该途径与乙烯信号途径(S)相互作用，决定最终的根细胞形状。分析这两个途径中每一个组成部分的具体作用将增加我们对细胞形状决定和细胞生长调节过程的理解。

Plant root morphology is determined by the number and shapes of the component individual root cells. Root cell shape is, in turn, the result of environmental factors affecting a fundamental genetic program. Loci involved in root cell shape determination have been identified as a result of genetic screens to identify root cell shape mutants in the simple plant Arabidopsis thaliana. The phenotypes of a number of these root cell shape mutants are ameliorated by reducing effective ethylene levels. These ethylene-dependent cell shape mutants appear to define a pathway (or pathways) in the root that interacts with the ethylene signaling pathway(s) to determine final root cell shape. Analyses of the specific roles of each of the components of these two pathways will increase our understanding of the process of cell shape determination and the regulation of cell growth.