Appreciating animal induced pluripotent stem cells to shape plant cell reprogramming strategies

Jana Wittmer, Renze Heidstra*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Animals and plants have developed resilience mechanisms to effectively endure and overcome physical damage and environmental challenges throughout their life span. To sustain their vitality, both animals and plants employ mechanisms to replenish damaged cells, either directly, involving the activity of adult stem cells, or indirectly, via dedifferentiation of somatic cells that are induced to revert to a stem cell state and subsequently redifferentiate. Stem cell research has been a rapidly advancing field in animal studies for many years, driven by its promising potential in human therapeutics, including tissue regeneration and drug development. A major breakthrough was the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are reprogrammed from somatic cells by expressing a limited set of transcription factors. This discovery enabled the generation of an unlimited supply of cells that can be differentiated into specific cell types and tissues. Equally, a keen interest in the connection between plant stem cells and regeneration has been developed in the last decade, driven by the demand to enhance plant traits such as yield, resistance to pathogens, and the opportunities provided by CRISPR/Cas-mediated gene editing. Here we discuss how knowledge of stem cell biology benefits regeneration technology, and we speculate on the creation of a universal genotype-independent iPSC system for plants to overcome regenerative recalcitrance.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4373-4393
Number of pages21
JournalJournal of Experimental Botany
Volume75
Issue number14
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Jul 2024

Keywords

  • De novo shoot organogenesis
  • developmental regulators
  • induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)
  • regeneration
  • somatic embryogenesis
  • stem cells

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Appreciating animal induced pluripotent stem cells to shape plant cell reprogramming strategies'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this