Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Owing to their sessile lifestyle, plants have evolved an incredible “fight or fix” survival strategy embodied by their extensive regeneration capabilities. Detached somatic cells are able to transdifferentiate and develop new organs (shoots, roots, or calli). This ability shows the incredible cellular and developmental plasticity of plants. Research has uncovered the genetic and molecular mechanisms driving regeneration, but how plants sense their environment and modulate their regeneration strategy accordingly to ensure survival remains unknown.
In this thesis, we aimed to characterize the role of environmental factors on root and callus development during regeneration in Arabidopsis thaliana. Callus formation and de novo root regeneration assays revealed that regeneration varied according to environmental conditions. Imaging of hormonal reporter lines suggested their involvement in integrating those environmental cues. Then, regeneration assays of mutants and over-expression lines suggested regeneration plasticity to borrow pathways of root development.
Taken together, this study offers a strong start for future research describing the endogenous effects regulating plant regeneration and could help understand the in vivo mechanisms at play in plant cell plasticity in response to environmental changes .