Ondrej Smetana

• University of Helsinki

Wood constitutes the largest reservoir of terrestrial biomass. Composed of xylem, it arises from one side of the vascular cambium, a bifacial stem cell niche that also produces phloem on the opposing side. It is currently unknown which molecular factors endow cambium stem cell identity. Here we show that TRACHEARY ELEMENT DIFFERENTIATION INHIBITORY...

23 24 Wood constitutes the majority of terrestrial biomass. Composed of xylem, it arises from one side 25 of the vascular cambium, a bifacial stem cell niche that also produces phloem on the opposing 26 side. It is currently unknown which molecular factors endow cambium stem cell identity. Here we 27 show that TDIF ligand-activated PXY receptors pr...

Vascular cambium contains bifacial stem cells, which produce secondary xylem to one side and secondary phloem to the other. However, how these fate decisions are regulated is unknown. Here we show that the positioning of an auxin signalling maximum within the cambium determines the fate of stem cell daughters. The position is modulated by gibberell...

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-03066-x

The regulation of signalling capacity, combined with the spatiotemporal distribution of developmental signals themselves, is pivotal in setting developmental responses in both plants and animals¹. The hormone auxin is a key signal for plant growth and development that acts through the AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR (ARF) transcription factors2–4. A subset o...

Apical growth in plants initiates upon seed germination, whereas radial growth is primed only during early ontogenesis in procambium cells and activated later by the vascular cambium¹. Although it is not known how radial growth is organized and regulated in plants, this system resembles the developmental competence observed in some animal systems,...

Wood, a type of xylem tissue, originates from cell proliferation of the vascular cambium. Xylem is produced inside, and phloem outside, of the cambium¹. Morphogenesis in plants is typically coordinated by organizer cells that direct the adjacent stem cells to undergo programmed cell division and differentiation. The location of the vascular cambium...

During plant growth, dividing cells in meristems must coordinate transitions from division to expansion and differentiation, thus generating three distinct developmental zones: the meristem, elongation zone and differentiation zone. Simultaneously, plants display tropisms, rapid adjustments of their direction of growth to adapt to environmental con...

Autophagic transport to the vacuole represents an endomembrane trafficking route, which is widely used in plants, not only during stress situations, but also for vacuole biogenesis and during developmental processes. Here we report a role in autophagic membrane transport for EXO70B1 - one of 23 paralogs of Arabidopsis EXO70 exocyst subunits. EXO70B...

Cellular responses to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are linked in mammals and yeasts to the phosphorylated histones H2AX (γH2AX) repair foci which are multiproteic nuclear complexes responsible for DSB sensing and signalling. However, neither the components of these foci nor their role are yet known in plants. In this paper, we describe the effec...

In plants, different forms of programmed cell death (PCD) have been identified, but they only partially correspond to those described for animals, which is most probably due to structural differences between animal and plant cells. Here, the results show that in tobacco BY-2 cells, bleomycin (BLM), an inducer of double-strand breaks (DSBs), trigger...

During the past ten years, emerging data revealed the role of E2F factors in various plant physiology aspects. E2F involvement in cell cycle and plant development was particularly investigated and highlighted some plant specificities, espacially in postembryonic development. A major role of E2F is its transcriptional activity governing specific gen...

During the past ten years, emerging data revealed the role of E2F factors in various plant physiology aspects. E2F involvement in cell cycle and plant development was particularly investigated and highlighted some plant specificities, espacially in postembryonic development. A major role of E2F is its transcriptional activity governing specific gen...