Abstract
Plant stem cells continuously produce numerous cells, which subsequently differentiate into matured cells. Differentiated plant cells still have a great potency of transdifferentiation to an apical stem cell under the proper conditions. Differentiated cells of flowering plants change to calli, in which a small number of cells transdifferentiate to meristem cells. The small amount caused the problem to identify the factors for the transdifferentiation.
To identify critical factors affecting the transdifferentiation process, we established an experimental system with the moss Physcomitrella patens, of which a leaf cell changes to an apical meristem cell without a cell division. We constructed the custom microarray containing 10,000 genes for photo-signaling, cell cycle, DNA metylation, chromatin remodeling, histone modification, phytohormone reaction, and transcriptional regulation. Clustering analysis revealed several patterns of gene expression during the process. We also investigated the epigenetic regulation by histone modification using ChIP-PCR and the result will be presented.
