As sessile organisms, plants have evolved developmental plasticity to cope with environmental challenges. This ability is based on the maintenance of plant stem cell niches. Plant stem cells can divide to renew themselves, while some of their progeny eventually differentiate to build new tissues. Certain differentiated cells can also reprogram themselves into a ¨stem cell¨ proliferative state to stimulate the formation of lateral organs or tissue regeneration in response to damage.
In recent decades, new technologies such as dynamic microscopic imaging of living cells, third-generation sequencing, and genome editing, as well as analytical and computational tools, have emerged to study the biology of plant stem cells. Significant progress has been made in the role of stem cells in plant development and stress response. Several factors are known to regulate plant stem cell development, including plant hormones such as auxin, cytokinin, and jasmonic acid, and factors such as WUSCHEL (WUS), CLAVATA (CLV), and PLETHORA (PLT). However, the complex networks controlling the high developmental plasticity of plants in response to intrinsic molecular and environmental signals remain to be elucidated.
The goal of this Research Topic is to provide an overview of the fundamental discoveries in the field of plant stem cells in various contexts of developmental plasticity and environmental stresses. Through the use of new technologies, studies will clarify unanswered questions related to lineage tracing and cell differentiation fate of plant stem cells, key factors determining plant stem cell fate, molecular genetic networks regulating plant stem cell formation, maintenance, and differentiation, and efficient plant regeneration methods based on stem cell theory. We welcome the submission of original research papers, reviews, perspectives, and methods, including (but not limited to) research on the following subtopics:
- Hormone and other signaling crosstalks within stem cell niches
- Epigenetic regulation associated with stem cell function
- Transcriptional regulation associated with stem cell function
- New methods for studying plant stem cells in vivo and in vitro
- The role of stem cells in plant development and stress response.
Keywords: Stem cells, Signaling, Stress Response, Regulatory Networks, Plant Regeneration
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
