RIKEN

Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo

Chubu University

Institute for Basic Biology

Summary

An international collaborative research group led by Trainee Yuki Sakamoto (Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo) and Team Leader Keiko Sugimoto (Professor, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo) of the Cell Function Research Team, RIKEN Research Center for Sustainable Resource Science (RIKEN), Professor Takayuki Suzuki and Professor Masayoshi Maejima of Chubu University, and Assistant Professor Shoji Segami of the Institute for Basic Biology (ISB), has elucidated the mechanism by which plant cells that have completed differentiation undergo reprogramming and regenerate into plant bodies. The research group has elucidated the mechanism by which plant cells that have once completed differentiation undergo reprogramming and regenerate plant bodies.

The research results are expected to contribute to sustainable food supply and biomass production by increasing the production of plant resources using tissue culture technology and improving the efficiency of breeding using genome editing.

In this study, the international research group discovered that in order for differentiated cells to reprogram and resume division, they need to produce new auxin, a plant hormone. They also found that the expression of genes encoding auxin biosynthesis enzymes is upregulated by an epigenetic mechanism. Furthermore, they found that auxin synthesis increases the responsiveness of cells to auxin and induces the expression of genes necessary to restart cell division.

The study was published in the online edition of the scientific journal The Plant Cell on August 4 (JST).

Figure: The process of reprogramming differentiated somatic cells to regenerate individual plants through repeated cell proliferation.

For more information, please visit the RIKEN website.