A molecular framework for plant regeneration

Plants and some animals have a profound capacity to regenerate organs from adult tissues. Molecular mechanisms for regeneration have, however, been largely unexplored. Here we investigate a local regeneration response in Arabidopsis roots. Laser-induced wounding disrupts the flow of auxin-a cell-fate-instructive plant hormone-in root tips, and we demonstrate that resulting cell-fate changes require the PLETHORA, SHORTROOT, and SCARECROW transcription factors. These transcription factors regulate the expression and polar position of PIN auxin efflux-facilitating membrane proteins to reconstitute auxin transport in renewed root tips. Thus, a regeneration mechanism using embryonic root stem-cell patterning factors first responds to and subsequently stabilizes a new hormone distribution.