Abstract
Postembryonic development in plants depends on the activity of shoot and root meristems. CLAVATA3 (CLV3), a putative ligand of Arabidopsis thaliana, regulates the stem cell population in the shoot apical meristem (SAM). Previously, we have reported that dodecapeptide with two hydroxy proline residues is a functional CLV3, and chemically synthesized CLV3 dodecapeptide function in our in vitro bioassay systems, resulted in reduced SAM size. In order to confirm the synthetic peptide acts through endogenous CLV pathway, we examined the SAM phenotype by treating the clv mutants with the CLV3 peptide. As a result, the clv1 and clv2 plants, but not the clv3 plants, showed resistance to the SAM defect caused by the CLV3 peptide. This suggests the synthetic CLV3 peptide acts through endogenous CLV1/CLV2 receptor complex(es). Together with results from the analysis of CLV3 peptide-resistant-mutants, we will discuss about CLV signaling pathway in the SAM.
