Decoding cell surface processes regulating cell fate in plants

图案形成是细胞命运的空间组织，是多细胞生物体的中心特征。在植物中，细胞通常被认为对位置信号做出反应而采用它们特定的命运。这就提出了这样一个问题：这些信号是如何控制细胞命运的。拟南芥根表皮中的模式形成是研究其潜在的分子和细胞机制的一个方便的模型系统。根表皮产生两种容易区分的细胞类型，毛细胞和非毛细胞。一种众所周知的调节表皮细胞命运的机制涉及细胞类型特异的转录因子复合体，该复合体由在两种细胞类型之间移动的转录因子加强。相比之下，人们对各自的上行信令机制知之甚少。目前，已知有两个受体-激酶介导的信号通路影响这一过程。一个由STRUBBELIG(SUB)控制，另一个由油菜素类固醇不敏感1(BRI1)控制。是否以及如果是的话，这两条信号通路是如何相互作用的尚不清楚。我的实验室可以提供几条线索，证明它们是相互关联的。这个项目解决了两条信号通路之间串扰的分子和遗传基础。这项研究将促进我们对调控植物表皮细胞命运的细胞间信号转导机制的分子理解。

Pattern formation, the spatial organization of cell fate, is a central feature of multicellular organisms. In plants, cells are generally thought to adopt their specific fate in response to positional signals. This raises the question of how the regulation of cell fate is controlled by such signals. Pattern formation in the epidermis of the Arabidopsis root is a convenient model system to study the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms. The root epidermis generates two readily distinguishable cell types, hair and non-hair cells. A well-described mechanism regulating epidermal cell fate involves cell type-specific transcription factor complexes that are reinforced by mobile transcription factors moving between the two cell types. By contrast, the respective upstream signaling mechanisms are much less well understood. Currently, two receptor-kinase-mediated signaling pathways are known to affect this process. One is controlled by STRUBBELIG (SUB), the other by BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1 (BRI1). Whether and if so how the two signaling pathways interact is not known. My laboratory could provide several lines of evidence that they are interconnected. This project addresses the molecular and genetic basis of the crosstalk between the two signaling pathways. The proposed research will advance our molecular understanding of the intercellular signal transduction mechanisms regulating epidermal cell fate in plants.