Research on Plant Stem Cells Shines Light on How Plants Grow Stronger

Researchers led by Huanzhong Wang, professor of plant molecular biology at the University of Connecticut's College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources (CAHNR) have been working to understand how plants control their stem cells, specifically those that give rise to vascular bundles -- the structures that carry water and other nutrients throughout the plant.

In a paper published in New Phytologist, the group sheds light on this question as they discovered a transcription factor gene called HVA that controls cell division in vascular stem cells. Wang's group revealed that when this gene is overexpressed, there is an increase in the number of vascular bundles and overall stem cell activity. They compared plants with no overexpression of HVA gene, those with one copy of overexpressed HVA gene and one regular gene, to plants with two copies of overexpressed HVA genes. In the group with no overexpression, the plants had five to eight vascular bundles. In the plants with one copy of overexpressed HVA gene, they had more than 20 bundles, and with two copies of overexpressed HVA genes, they had more than 50.

Plants with more vascular bundles are stronger and more resistant to wind. This could be used to develop sturdier cultivars with the overexpression mutation, especially in tall, slender crops like corn.

For more details, read the news article in UConn Today.