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Welcome to Yang Lab
Plant Stem Cell Dynamics
September 2025
Hydraulic control of shoot meristem growth—Our study has been published in Developmental Cell. We discover that plant shoot meristems are maintained within a high-humidity niche. A conserved molecular module where the epidermal transcription factor ATML1 directly activates the aquaporin gene PIP2;5, creating a water conduit in the L1 cell layer that facilitates hydraulic exchange with this local microenvironment. This ATML1-PIP2;5 module regulates stem cell activity in response to humidity fluctuations; disrupting it in Arabidopsis leads to slower water uptake, altered gene expression, and reduced cell division under high humidity. The mechanism is evolutionarily ancient, as the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha uses a homologous system for moisture response, and natural variation in the PIP2;5 gene in Arabidopsis is linked to adaptation to arid climates, suggesting epidermal hydraulics are a fundamental and selected trait for terrestrial plant adaptation.
(https://www.cell.com/developmental-cell/fulltext/S1534-5807(25)00567-2)
August 2025
Our work on cell wall control of shoot meristem development is out in Nature Communications. In this study, we demonstrate that the CSLD5 is crucial for building new cell walls during cell division in the shoot apical meristem (SAM). CSLD5 forms complexes with cellulose synthases (CESAs), and its disruption results in softer cell walls, altered expression of mechanosensitive genes, and reduced meristem growth due to delayed cell division. Confining CSLD5 expression solely to the outer L1 epidermal layer restored normal tissue mechanics and growth in the csld5 mutant, revealing a non-cell-autonomous mechanism where the epidermis coordinates growth across layers. The study further shows that epidermis-specific expression of the rice ortholog OsCSLD4 enhances inflorescence meristem growth and seed production, suggesting a new breeding strategy to improve crop yield through targeted cell wall remodelling.
(https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-62651-8)
Congratulations to Leyao Zhu for getting the Master’s degree and graduation!
Tue, 24 Jun, 2025
From left to right:
Geshuang Gao, Lan Luo, Yihao Fu, Yimin Gu, Chang Liu,
Leyao Zhu, Hui Long, Weibing Yang, Xing Chen, Yangxuan Liu, Xianmiao Zhu, Shuangshuang Yu, Miao Lan, Yimin Zhu
Front:
Hongze Ma
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