Two phases of chromatin decondensation during dedifferentiation of plant cells: distinction between competence for cell fate switch and a commitment for S phase.

Cellular dedifferentiation is the major process underlying totipotency, regeneration, and formation of new stem cell lineages in multicellular organisms. In animals it is often associated with carcinogenesis. Here, we used tobacco protoplasts (plant cells devoid of cell wall) to study changes in chromatin structure in the course of dedifferentiation of mesophyll cells.

Clausa, a tomato mutant with a wide range of phenotypic perturbations, displays a cell type-dependent expression of the homeobox gene LeT6/TKn2.

Class I knox genes play an important role in shoot meristem function and are thus involved in the ordered development of stems, leaves, and reproductive organs. To elucidate the mechanism underlying the expression pattern of these homeobox genes, we studied a spontaneous tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) mutant that phenotypically resembles, though is more extreme than, transgenic plants misexpressing class I knox genes. This mutant was found to carry a recessive allele, denoted clausa:shootyleaf (clau:shl)-a newly identified allele of clausa.

Cloning and characterisation of the pknD gene encoding an eukaryotic-type protein kinase in the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC7120.

Protein phosphorylation catalysed by protein kinases is an important mechanism for signal transduction in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. A novel gene, pknD, encoding a protein similar to eukaryotic-type protein kinases, was cloned from Anabaena sp. PCC7120.