Abstract
In most flowering plants, the apical-basal body axis is initiated by an asymmetric division of the polarized zygote. This division generates two daughter cells of different fates: the small apical daughter will form the aerial organs of the plant, whereas the large basal cell will produce the below-ground root. Despite the obvious importance, how the zygote polarizes and how this asymmetry is translated to the embryo axis have been obscure. Recently we identified that Arabidopsis zinc-finger transcription factor WRKY2 regulates both of the zygote polarity and the embryo patterning. In this review, we summarize how we found WRKY2 and discuss what we should do to reveal the molecular mechanism of WRKY2-dependent axis formation.
