Transcriptome dynamics revealed by a gene expression atlas of the early Arabidopsis embryo

Corresponding author: Dolf Weijers

During early plant embryogenesis (胚胎发生), precursors (前体) for all major tissues and stem cells are formed. While several components of the regulatory framework are known, how cell fates are instructed (指示) by genome-wide transcriptional activity remains unanswered—in part because of difficulties in capturing transcriptome changes at cellular resolution. Here, we have adapted a two-component transgenic labelling system to purify cell-type-specific nuclear RNA and generate a transcriptome atlas (地图集) of early Arabidopsis embryo development, with a focus on root stem cell niche formation. We validated the dataset through gene expression analysis, and show that gene activity shifts in a spatio-temporal (时空) manner, probably signifying (意味) transcriptional reprogramming, to induce developmental processes reflecting cell states and state transitions. This atlas provides the most comprehensive tissue- and cell-specific description of genome-wide gene activity in the early plant embryo, and serves as a valuable resource for understanding the genetic control of early plant development.

植物早期的胚胎发生是所有主要植物组织及干细胞前提形成的时期。目前已经知道了一些调控框架，然而基因组范围的转录基因如何决定细胞命运还不清楚，部分是因为难以从细胞级别捕获转录变化。本文采用了一种双组分转基因标签系统用以纯化特定细胞类型的核RNA，得到了早期拟南芥胚胎发育的转录集，主要聚焦于根干细胞龛的形成。作者通过基因表达的分析表明基因活力随着时空变化，可能意味着转录重编程，以诱导反映细胞状态和状态改变的发育进程。本文的结果提供了植物早期胚胎发育全基因组基因活力的综合性组织、细胞特异性描述，为遗传调控早期植物发育提供宝贵的资源。

个人简介：1997年，荷兰恩斯赫德，生物化学学士；2002年，荷兰莱顿大学，发育遗传学博士；2002-2006年，德国图宾根大学，Gerd Jürgens实验室博士后。

doi: 10.1038/s41477-017-0035-3