Thorny questions: citrus development and disease

Thorns are plant defensive structures that arise from axillary shoot apical meristems that proliferate for a time and then terminally differentiate into a sharp hard tip. Like other meristems, thorn meristems contain stem cells but, in the case of thorns, these stem cells undergo a programmed cessation of proliferative activity. Using citrus as a model system to examine this unusual form of stem cell regulation, we have characterized a transcriptional gene network necessary for thorn development. Not only has this work illuminated some of the molecular mechanisms controlling plant stem cell activity, but the methods we have developed have allowed us to tackle some of the challenges facing citrus agriculture today. 

Speaker: Vivian Irish, Yale University