VLCFA-mediated inter-cell layer communication controls cellular pluripotency in Arabidopsis callus

Authors

Doll, Y., Nobusawa, T., Kojima, M., Nagata, K., Matsuda-Ito, K., Mähönen, A. P., Matsuda, T., Abe, M., Sakakibara, H., Ikeuchi, M.

Abstract

Plants have remarkable capacity to reconstruct entire organ systems from tissue explants. In Arabidopsis two-step tissue culture system, pluripotency regulators are specifically expressed in the middle-cell layer of the stratified callus tissue. However, regulatory mechanisms underlying the radial patterning of callus remained unclear. Here, we found that very-long-chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) synthesized in the epidermis-like outermost layer are essential for pluripotency acquisition and successful shoot regeneration. Our genetic and transcriptomic analyses revealed that the regulatory roles of VLCFAs on pluripotency acquisition involve inter-cell layer signaling in callus tissue, while they are at least partly independent of ATML1/PDF2 functions and cuticular wax synthesis in the outermost layer. VLCFAs spatially restrict procambium cell identity by non-cell-autonomously suppressing cytokinin signaling, thereby allowing for establishment of the middle-cell layer. We propose that the inhibitory relationships between layer-specific regulators underlie the intricate balance of cellular fate determination in pluripotent callus.

Preprint server: bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 04 Sep 2026.

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