Utilizing polarized stomatal lineage proteins as tools for understanding mechanisms of cell polarity and cell fate determination in plants
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Organisms utilize asymmetric cell division, in which a mother cell produces two daughter cells with distinct identities, to define cell fates, renew stem cells, and create patterning. A fundamental component of asymmetric cell division is the establishment and maintenance of polarity. This complicated task often requires defining plasma membrane domains as well as cellular machinery to target and capture polarized proteins. Establishment and maintenance of animal cell polarity relies on conserved molecular players but plants lack homologues for the genes that encode these conserved polarity components. As sessile organisms, cell polarity is a crucial mechanism employed by plants to adapt their development to environmental conditions. Since plants and animals independently developed multi-cellularity, it is likely that plants created their own solutions to generate cell fate diversity. The study of stomatal development provides a tractable system to study plant cell polarity and the events that determine cell fate. Stomata are tiny pores formed by pairs of guard cells on the epidermal surface of plant tissues that regulate gas exchange between the plant and surrounding atmosphere. Stomatal development in Arabidopsis requires asymmetric cell divisions to create and maintain a stem cell population, produce differentiated cells, and control the "one- cell spacing" pattern of stomata. A forward genetic screen identified BREAKING OF ASYMMETRY IN THE STOMATAL LINEAGE (BASL), a novel, polarized and asymmetrically inherited protein required for divergent cell fates following asymmetric cell division (Dong et al, 2009). In basl mutants, daughter cells often adopt the same fate, size and shape. BASL displays a dynamic pattern of subcellular localization in stomatal lineage cells; it is polarized at the membrane prior to asymmetric division and then unequally inherited into the larger sister cell. Proteins that physically interact with BASL, the BREVIS RADIX (BRX) family, also localize in coincident polarized domains of stomatal lineage cells. The work presented in this dissertation utilized BASL and BRXL2 as tools for understanding plant cell polarity and cell fate. Genetic, pharmacological, and quantitative cell biological techniques suggested that BASL and BRXL2 are actively maintained in polarized domains of stomatal lineage cells and that the cell wall plays a role in the maintenance process. Reporters expressing BASL and other stomatal lineage proteins were built to explore how cell identity feeds back on the establishment of polarity and to monitor developmental transitions of these polarized cell types. Finally, a role for BASL outside of the stomatal lineage, in asymmetrically dividing cells of the root, was identified.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2013 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Metzinger, Carrie A |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Biology. |
| Primary advisor | Bergmann, Dominique |
| Thesis advisor | Bergmann, Dominique |
| Thesis advisor | Ehrhardt, David |
| Thesis advisor | Mudgett, Mary Beth, 1967- |
| Thesis advisor | Nelson, W. J. (W. James) |
| Advisor | Ehrhardt, David |
| Advisor | Mudgett, Mary Beth, 1967- |
| Advisor | Nelson, W. J. (W. James) |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Carrie A. Metzinger. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Biology. |
| Thesis | Ph.D. Stanford University 2013 |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2013 by Carrie Anne Metzinger
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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