Two in a row... Another Science paper using flow sorting on plant protoplasts

Can it be two in a row? It is indeed. Two weeks ago de Smet and co-authors published a study entitled "Receptor-Like Kinase ACR4 Restricts Formative Cell Divisions in the Arabidopsis Root" on Science. It is a very interesting application of flow sorting of plant perycicle cells undergoing lateral root initiation to identify the receptor-like kinase ACR4 of Arabidopsis.

One of the authors told me that this important and interesting study resulted from a fruitful collaboration between Philip Benfey's group from the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, Duke University and the Root Development Group in Ghent headed by Tom Beeckman with cell sorting being done in both Departments.

Congratulations to all the persons involved in such groundbreaking investigation.

Abstract:
During the development of multicellular organisms, organogenesis and pattern formation depend on formative divisions to specify and maintain pools of stem cells. In higher plants, these activities are essential to shape the final root architecture because the functioning of root apical meristems and the de novo formation of lateral roots entirely rely on it. We used transcript profiling on sorted pericycle cells undergoing lateral root initiation to identify the receptor-like kinase ACR4 of Arabidopsis as a key factor both in promoting formative cell divisions in the pericycle and in constraining the number of these divisions once organogenesis has been started. In the root tip meristem, ACR4 shows a similar action by controlling cell proliferation activity in the columella cell lineage. Thus, ACR4 function reveals a common mechanism of formative cell division control in the main root tip meristem and during lateral root initiation.

Another great achievement of plant chromosome flow sorting

It was with great pleasure that I received an alert of the publication of the physical map of the 1-Gigabase bread wheat chromosome 3B on the top ranking journal Science. Not only because it is another very important contribution of plant flow sorting, but mostly because I know some of the people involved on this great achievement and all the efforts that were made within this worldwide research team to achieve this outcome. To Jaroslav Dolezel and all his team my sincere greetings.

Abstract:

As the staple food for 35% of the world’s population, wheat is one of the most important crop species. To date, sequence-based tools to accelerate wheat improvement are lacking. As part of the international effort to sequence the 17–billion–base-pair hexaploid bread wheat genome (2n = 6x = 42 chromosomes), we constructed a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC)–based integrated physical map of the largest chromosome, 3B, that alone is 995 megabases. A chromosome-specific BAC library was used to assemble 82% of the chromosome into 1036 contigs that were anchored with 1443 molecular markers, providing a major resource for genetic and genomic studies. This physical map establishes a template for the remaining wheat chromosomes and demonstrates the feasibility of constructing physical maps in large, complex, polyploid genomes with a chromosome-based approach.

List of recently published papers on plant flow cytometry - September

September issues have been quite generous for flow cytometry related works... This month will contemplate 8 highlights from many different areas... A sign that flow cytometry is being more and more applied in different fields of plant sciences.

Genome size:
Fuchs J, Jovtchev G, Schubert I. The chromosomal distribution of histone methylation marks in gymnosperms differs from that of angiosperms. Chromosome Research (2008) 16:891–898.

Smarda P, Bures P, Horová L, Rotreklová O. Intrapopulation genome size dynamics in Festuca pallens. Annals of Botany (2008) 102:599–607.

Ploidy level:
Biotechnology
Lim WS, Earle ED. Effect of in vitro and in vivo colchicine treatments on pollen production and fruit set of melon plants obtained by pollination with irradiated pollen. Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture (2008) 95:115-124.

Weber J, Georgiev V, Pavlov A, Bley T. Flow cytometric investigations of diploid and tetraploid plants and in vitro cultures of Datura stramonium and Hyoscyamus niger. Cytometry (2008) 73A:931-939.

Biosystematics

Consaul LL, Gillespie LJ, Waterway MJ. Systematics of three North American polyploid arctic alkali grasses (Puccinellia, Poaceae): morphology, ploidy, and AFLP markers. Botany (2008) 86:916-937.

Flow sorting:
Kofler R, Bartos J, Gong L, Stift G, Suchánková P, Simková H, Berenyi M, Burg K, Dolezel J, Lelley T. Development of microsatellite markers specific for the short arm of rye (Secale cereale L.) chromosome 1. Theoretical and Applied Genetics (2008) 117:915–926.

Algae physiological studies:
Li Y, Huang J, Sandmann G, Chen F. Glucose sensing and the mitochondrial alternative pathway are involved in the regulation of astaxanthin biosynthesis in the dark-grown Chlorella zofingiensis (Chlorophyceae). Planta (2008) 228:735–743.