2. Academic Validation
  3. Cell division in the shoot apical meristem is a trigger for miR156 decline and vegetative phase transition in Arabidopsis

Cell division in the shoot apical meristem is a trigger for miR156 decline and vegetative phase transition in Arabidopsis

  • Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Nov 16;118(46):e2115667118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2115667118.
Ying-Juan Cheng 1,  Guan-Dong Shang 1 2,  Zhou-Geng Xu 1 2,  Sha Yu 1,  Lian-Yu Wu 1 3,  Dong Zhai 1 2,  Shi-Long Tian 1 2,  Jian Gao 1,  Long Wang 1,  Jia-Wei Wang 4 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (CEMPS), Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (SIPPE), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai 200032, China.
  • 2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China.
  • 3 School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China.
  • 4 National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (CEMPS), Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (SIPPE), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai 200032, China; jwwang@sippe.ac.cn.
PMID: 34750273 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2115667118
Abstract

What determines the rate at which a multicellular organism matures is a fundamental question in biology. In Plants, the decline of miR156 with age serves as an intrinsic, evolutionarily conserved timer for the juvenile-to-adult phase transition. However, the way in which age regulates miR156 abundance is poorly understood. Here, we show that the rate of decline in miR156 is correlated with developmental age rather than chronological age. Mechanistically, we found that cell division in the apical meristem is a trigger for miR156 decline. The transcriptional activity of MIR156 genes is gradually attenuated by the deposition of the repressive histone MARK H3K27me3 along with cell division. Our findings thus provide a plausible explanation of why the maturation program of a multicellular organism is unidirectional and irreversible under normal growth conditions and suggest that cell quiescence is the fountain of youth in Plants.

Keywords

age; cell division; developmental timing; miR156.

Figures
Products