Abstract
Shoot and root meristems are continuously located at growing tip regions and give rise to all kinds of plant tissues. Therefore, to understand plant development, it is very important to examine the mechanisms of meristem development. In this research, I am focusing on root meristem, because the structure of root is easier to analyze.
It has been known that the CLAVATA3 (CLV3) peptides regulate the size of the shoot meristems via the receptors like CLV1 and CLV2. Arabidopsis genomes contain about 33 CLV3/ESR-like (CLE) family genes including the CLV3 gene. Over-expression of the CLE genes and treatments with CLE peptides reduce the length of root and size of root meristem. Moreover, the clv2 mutant roots showed resistance to CLE peptide treatments and over-expression of the CLE gene. Therefore, these data suggest that CLE peptide regulate the size of root meristems as well. We are examining how CLE peptides regulate root meristem development.
