A matter of concentration
(PHYSorg.com Biology)

Plants can grow whole new organs with the help of pluripotent stem cells throughout their entire lives. When necessary, these stem cells can develop into any type of cell within an organism. The biologist Prof. Dr. Thomas Laux and his plant genetics research group at the University of Freiburg, who are studying how the balance between stem cells and specialized cells is regulated in plants, have determined that the concentration of so-called Argonaute proteins, such as AGO1 and ZLL/AGO10, plays a central role in this process. The team recently published their findings in the scientific journal Plant Communications. First author is Dr. Fei Du.