Flowering plants go through several phases between regular stem growth and the actual production of flower parts. The stepwise conversion of vegetative into inflorescence and floral meristems is usually unidirectional, but under certain environmental or genetic conditions, meristems can revert to an earlier developmental identity. Vegetative meristems are typically indeterminate, producing orga...

The HAIRY MERISTEM (HAM) genes function in meristem maintenance but play minor roles in the morphogenesis of a simple leaf that is determinate. Here, we functionally analyzed HAM genes in tomato and uncovered their involvement in compound leaf morphogenesis. Tomato encodes three HAM homologs, of which SlHAM and SlHAM2 (SlHAMs) are guided for cleavage by microRNA171 and are abundant in the shoot...

Plants must develop efficient root architectures to secure access to nutrients and water in soil. This is achieved during plant development through a series of expansion and branching processes, mostly in the proximity of root apical meristems, where the plant senses the environment and explores immediate regions of the soil. We have developed a new approach to study the dynamics of root merist...

All plant tissue is ultimately derived from the meristems, and the molecular mechanisms that control growth of apical meristems have been widely studied (reviewed in). In contrast, much less attention has been paid to vascular meristems, such as the cambium and procambium, even though these meristems are the source of woody tissue and therefore generate the majority of plant biomass. Although b...

We have previously described the phenotype of Arabidopsis thaliana plants with mutations at the CLAVATA1 (CLV1) locus (Clark, S. E., Running, M. P. and Meyerowitz, E. M. (1993) Development 119, 397-418). Our investigations demonstrated that clv1 plants develop enlarged vegetative and inflorescence apical meristems, and enlarged and indeterminate floral meristems. Here, we present an analysis of...

Abstract Flavoring additives are of great technological importance for the food industry. However, there is little information regarding toxicological properties these micro-ingredients, especially at cellular level. The present study used meristematic root cells Allium cepa L. to evaluate toxicity a liquid, aroma and flavor synthetic chocolate additive, manufactured widely marketed throughout ...