背景回顾：Root development relies on the establishment of meristematic tissues that give rise to distinct cell types that differentiate across defined temporal and spatial gradients. 

研究意义：Dissection of the developmental trajectories and the transcriptional networks that underlie them could aid understanding of the function of the root apical meristem in both dicots and monocots.

主要研究：Here, we present a single-cell RNA (scRNA) sequencing and chromatin accessibility survey of rice radicles. 

结果1-发育轨迹：By temporal profiling of individual root tip cells we reconstruct continuous developmental trajectories of epidermal cells and ground tissues, and elucidate regulatory networks underlying cell fate determination in these cell lineages.

结果2-单、双子叶比较：We further identify characteristic processes, transcriptome profiles, and marker genes for these cell types and reveal conserved and divergent root developmental pathways between dicots and monocots.

结果3-应用潜力：Finally, we demonstrate the potential of the platform for functional genetic studies by using spatiotemporal modeling to identify a rice root meristematic mutant from a cell-specific gene cohort.

根的发育依赖于分生组织的建立，分生组织会产生不同的细胞类型，这些细胞在特定的时间和空间梯度上进一步分化。解析单、双子叶植物根尖分生组织的发育轨迹及其转录网络有助于我们深入了解其功能。本文中，作者报道了水稻胚根的单细胞RNA测序和染色质可及性分析。通过对单个根尖细胞的时间序列分析，作者重建了表皮细胞和基本组织（ground tiissue：包括皮层cortex和内皮层endodermis）的连续发育轨迹，并阐明了这些细胞系中细胞命运决定的调控网络。此外，作者进一步鉴定了这些细胞类型的特征进程、转录图谱及标记基因，揭示了单、双子叶植物之间保守和分化的根系发育途径。最终，作者通过时空模拟，从细胞特异性基因群中鉴定到了一个水稻根分生组织突变体，展示了该平台在功能遗传研究中的潜力。