Pushy neighbour sends several messages
Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - 16:28
in Biology & Nature
How does a plant ensure that one cell remains responsible for making root cells for the rest of its life? The plant embryo contains the transcription factor MONOPTEROS. This tells its neighbouring cell to become a centre that controls stem cells for new growth. Dutch researcher Dolf Weijers has revealed for the first time how MONOPTEROS does that. Besides a hormone, the regulator also sends a protein to the chosen cell. The research results were published in the journal Nature on 10 March 2010.