Effectors of MAP kinase signaling during plant embryogenesis

多细胞生物从遗传上相同的细胞发展出复杂的体型。为了实现这一点，细胞在不对称细胞分裂的子细胞中启动不同的转录反应。我们以拟南芥早期胚胎为模型系统，对植物干细胞系统中协调细胞分化的信号事件进行了分子机制的深入研究。近年来，人们已经清楚ERECTA-YODA MAP激酶信号通路在植物细胞不对称分裂的细胞极化和差异基因表达中起着核心作用。然而，在拟南芥早期胚胎中，目前对MAP激酶磷酸化的分子靶点以及子细胞在分子水平上如何实现不同的细胞特性和生长素反应知之甚少，在本研究中，我们将从功能上研究胚胎ERECTA-YODA通路靶点的转录因子和转录抑制因子。通过这个项目，我们将获得干细胞稳态的机制见解，以及在植物发育过程中如何实现不同的细胞身份。

Multicellular organisms develop their complex body shape from genetically identical cells. To achieve this, cells initiate different transcriptional responses in daughter cells of asymmetric cell divisions. We use the early Arabidopsis embryo as model system to get molecular, mechanistic insight into the signaling events that orchestrate cellular differentiation in plant stem cell systems.In recent years, it has become clear that the ERECTA-YODA MAP kinase signaling pathway plays a central role in cell polarization and differential gene expression in asymmetric cell divisions in plants.In the early Arabidopsis embryo, however, little is known about the molecular targets of MAP kinase phosphorylation and how different cell identities and auxin responses are achieved in the daughter cells on a molecular level.In the proposed project, we will functionally characterize transcription factors and transcriptional repressors as targets of the embryonic ERECTA-YODA pathway. With this project, we will get mechanistic insight in stem cell homeostasis and how different cell identities are achieved during plant development.