Nitrate modulates stem cell dynamics in Arabidopsis shoot meristems through cytokinins

The shoot apical meristem (SAM) is responsible for the generation of all the aerial parts of plants. Given its critical role, dynamical changes in SAM activity should play a central role in the adaptation of plant architecture to the environment. Using quantitative microscopy, grafting experiments, and genetic perturbations, we connect the plant environment to the SAM by describing the molecular mechanism by which cytokinins signal the level of nutrient availability to the SAM. We show that a systemic signal of cytokinin precursors mediates the adaptation of SAM size and organogenesis rate to the availability of mineral nutrients by modulating the expression of WUSCHEL, a key regulator of stem cell homeostasis. In time-lapse experiments, we further show that this mechanism allows meristems to adapt to rapid changes in nitrate concentration, and thereby modulate their rate of organ production to the availability of mineral nutrients within a few days. Our work sheds light on the role of the stem cell regulatory network by showing that it not only maintains meristem homeostasis but also allows plants to adapt to rapid changes in the environment

Global Topological Order Emerges through Local Mechanical Control of Cell Divisions in the Arabidopsis Shoot Apical Meristem

The control of cell position and division act in concert to dictate multicellular organization in tissues and organs. How these processes shape global order and molecular movement across organs is an outstanding problem in biology. Using live 3D imaging and computational analyses, we extracted networks capturing cellular connectivity dynamics across the Arabidopsis shoot apical meristem (SAM) and topologically analyzed the local and global properties of cellular architecture. Locally generated cell division rules lead to the emergence of global tissue-scale organization of the SAM, facilitating robust global communication. Cells that lie upon more shorter paths have an increased propensity to divide, with division plane placement acting to limit the number of shortest paths their daughter cells lie upon. Cell shape heterogeneity and global cellular organization requires KATANIN, providing a multiscale link between cell geometry, mechanical cell-cell interactions, and global tissue order

Million-year-scale alternation of warm–humid and semi-arid periods as a mid-latitude climate mode in the Early Jurassic (late Sinemurian, Laurasian Seaway)

Clay mineral and stable isotope (C, O) data are reported from the upper Sinemurian (Lower Jurassic) of the Cardigan Bay Basin (Llanbedr–Mochras Farm borehole, northwestern Wales) and the Paris Basin (Montcornet borehole, northern France) to highlight the prevailing environmental and climatic conditions. In both basins, located at similar palaeolatitudes of 30–35∘ N, the clay mineral assemblages comprise chlorite, illite, illite–smectite mixed layers (R1 I-S), smectite, and kaolinite in various proportions. Because the influence of burial diagenesis and authigenesis is negligible in both boreholes, the clay minerals are interpreted to be derived from the erosion of the Caledonian and Variscan massifs, including their basement and pedogenic cover. In the Cardigan Bay Basin, the variations in the proportions of smectite and kaolinite are inversely related to each other through the entire upper Sinemurian. As in the succeeding Pliensbachian, the upper Sinemurian stratigraphic distribution reveals an alternation of kaolinite-rich intervals reflecting strong hydrolysing conditions and smectite-rich intervals indicating a semi-arid climate. Kaolinite is particularly abundant in the upper part of the obtusum zone and in the oxynotum zone, suggesting more intense hydrolysing conditions likely coeval with warm conditions responsible for an acceleration of the hydrological cycle. In the north of the Paris Basin, the succession is less continuous compared to the Cardigan Bay Basin site, as the oxynotum zone and the upper raricostatum zone are either absent or highly condensed. The clay assemblages are dominantly composed of illite and kaolinite without significant stratigraphic trends, but a smectite-rich interval identified in the obtusum zone is interpreted as a consequence of the emersion of the London–Brabant Massif following a lowering of sea level. Following a slight negative carbon isotope excursion at the obtusum–oxynotum zone transition, a long-term decrease in δ13Corg from the late oxynotum–early raricostatum zones is recorded in the two sites and may precede or partly include the negative carbon isotope excursion of the Sinemurian–Pliensbachian Boundary Event, which is recognised in most basins worldwide and interpreted to signify a late pulse of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province volcanism

A MAP6-Related Protein Is Present in Protozoa and Is Involved in Flagellum Motility

In vertebrates the microtubule-associated proteins MAP6 and MAP6d1 stabilize cold-resistant microtubules. Cilia and flagella have cold-stable microtubules but MAP6 proteins have not been identified in these organelles. Here, we describe TbSAXO as the first MAP6-related protein to be identified in a protozoan, Trypanosoma brucei. Using a heterologous expression system, we show that TbSAXO is a microtubule stabilizing protein. Furthermore we identify the domains of the protein responsible for microtubule binding and stabilizing and show that they share homologies with the microtubule-stabilizing Mn domains of the MAP6 proteins. We demonstrate, in the flagellated parasite, that TbSAXO is an axonemal protein that plays a role in flagellum motility. Lastly we provide evidence that TbSAXO belongs to a group of MAP6-related proteins (SAXO proteins) present only in ciliated or flagellated organisms ranging from protozoa to mammals. We discuss the potential roles of the SAXO proteins in cilia and flagella function

Cell size and growth regulation in the Arabidopsis thaliana\textit{Arabidopsis thaliana} apical stem cell niche

Cell size and growth kinetics are fundamental cellular properties with important physiological implications. Classical studies on yeast, and recently on bacteria, have identified rules for cell size regulation in single cells, but in the more complex environment of multicellular tissues, data have been lacking. In this study, to characterize cell size and growth regulation in a multicellular context, we developed a 4D imaging pipeline and applied it to track and quantify epidermal cells over 3-4 d in $\textit{Arabidopsis thaliana}$ shoot apical meristems. We found that a cell size checkpoint is not the trigger for G2/M or cytokinesis, refuting the unexamined assumption that meristematic cells trigger cell cycle phases upon reaching a critical size. Our data also rule out models in which cells undergo G2/M at a fixed time after birth, or by adding a critical size increment between G2/M transitions. Rather, cell size regulation was intermediate between the critical size and critical increment paradigms, meaning that cell size fluctuations decay by ∼75% in one generation compared with 100% (critical size) and 50% (critical increment). Notably, this behavior was independent of local cell-cell contact topologies and of position within the tissue. Cells grew exponentially throughout the first >80% of the cell cycle, but following an asymmetrical division, the small daughter grew at a faster exponential rate than the large daughter, an observation that potentially challenges present models of growth regulation. These growth and division behaviors place strong constraints on quantitative mechanistic descriptions of the cell cycle and growth control.This work was supported by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation through Grant GAT3395-PR4 (to H.J.) and Fellowships GAT3272/C and GAT3273-PR1 (to E.M.M.), Swedish Research Council Grant VR2013:4632 and Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation Grant KAW2012.0050 (to H.J.), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Grant GBMF3406 (to E.M.M.), and National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program Award MCB-1149328 (to K.C.H.)

Evolution climatique au Jurassique inférieur (Sinémuriensupérieur) de la zone Nord-Ouest européenne, déduit de laminéralogie des argiles et des isotopes du carbone

National audienceL’étude des minéraux argileux et des isotopes stables (carbone) du Sinémuriensupérieur du bassin de Cardigan Bay (forage de Mochras, Pays de Galles) et du bassinde Paris (forage de Montcornet, France) permet de mettre en évidence les conditionsenvironnementales et climatiques dominantes à cette période. Dans les deux bassins,situés à des paléolatitudes proches (30 à 35°N), les assemblages de minéraux argileuxcomprennent des chlorites, des illites, des interstratifiés illite-smectite (IS R1), dessmectites et des kaolinites dans des proportions variables. L'influence de la diagenèsed’enfouissement et de l'authigénèse étant négligeable dans les deux forages, lesminéraux argileux sont interprétés comme provenant principalement de l'érosion desmassifs calédoniens et varisques. Dans le bassin de Cardigan Bay, les variations desproportions de smectites et de kaolinites sont opposées sur l'ensemble du Sinémuriensupérieur et révèlent des intervalles d'hydrolyse intense sous un climat chaud etrégulièrement humide (fortes proportions de kaolinites) et des intervalles semi-arides(forte proportions de smectites). Les kaolinites, particulièrement abondantes dans lapartie supérieure de la Zone à obtusum et dans la Zone à oxynotum, suggèrent unehydrolyse plus intenses probablement coïncidente avec des conditions chaudes,responsables d'une accélération du cycle hydrologique. Au nord du bassin de Paris, lasérie stratigraphique est beaucoup moins épaisse que sur le site du bassin de CardiganBay. Les assemblages argileux sont principalement composés d'illites et de kaolinitessans tendance significative, mais un intervalle riche en smectites identifié dans la Zoneà obtusum est interprété comme une conséquence de l'émersion du Massif Londres-Brabant suite à un abaissement du niveau marin. La diminution à long terme du δ13Corgà la fin de la Zone à oxynotum, enregistrée dans les deux sites, semble amorcerl’excursion négative reconnue quasi-mondialement au passageSinémurien/Pliensbachien (SPBE) probablement liée au volcanisme de la ProvinceMagmatique de l'Atlantique Central (CAMP)

Human FAM154A (SAXO1) is a microtubule-stabilizing protein specific to cilia and related structures

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