This study investigated the influence of wearing unstable shoe construction (WUS) on compensatory postural adjustments (CPA) associated with external perturbations. Thirty-two subjects stood on a force platform resisting an anterior-posterior horizontal force applied to a pelvic belt via a cable, which was suddenly released. They stood under two conditions: barefoot and WUS. The electromyograph...

The CLAVATA (CLV) signaling pathway is essential for shoot meristem homeostasis in Arabidopsis. CLV acts to limit the expression domain of the stem cell-promoting gene WUSCHEL (WUS). The closely related receptor-kinases CLV1 and BAM1 are key components in this pathway; however, the downstream factors that link the receptors to WUS regulation are poorly understood. The Arabidopsis gene At5g65480...

The shoot meristem gives rise to the aerial parts of higher plants by continuously initiating new organs. The basis of this activity is its ability to maintain a pool of pluripotent stem cells, which are the ultimate source of all tissues of the shoot. In Arabidopsis plants mutant for the WUSCHEL (WUS) gene, the stem cells are misspecified and appear to undergo differentiation. Here, we show th...

A commentary on Establishment of embryonic shoot–root axis is involved in auxin and cytokinin response during Arabidopsis somatic embryogenesis Plant tissue culture and subsequent organogenesis have been regarded as part of the scientific roots of modern plant biotechnology (Sussex, 2008). Establishments of shoot apical meristem (SAM) and root apical meristem (RAM) are critical steps for somati...

In what follows we develop a mathematical model to describe the signaling and transcriptional network dynamics by which negative and positive feedback loops regulate cytokinin signaling and WUS expression. The main focus of the model is to explore several hypotheses, as to how WUS induction occurs as a function of cytokinin signaling and to understand how individual feedback loops contribute to...

SNF2 chromatin-remodeling ATPases play an important role in ensuring proper development in higher eukaryotes by controlling accessibility of cis-regulatory DNA regions to transcription factors and to the transcriptional machinery. However, the biological targets controlled by these ATPases are largely unknown. Using genetic and molecular analyses we have identified WUSCHEL (WUS) as a biological...

A fundamental question in developmental biology is how spatial patterns are self-organized from homogeneous structures. In 1952, Turing proposed the reaction-diffusion model in order to explain this issue. Experimental evidence of reaction-diffusion patterns in living organisms was first provided by the pigmentation pattern on the skin of fishes in 1995. However, whether or not this mechanism p...

In Arabidopsis thaliana, the stem cell population of the shoot system is controlled by regulatory circuitry involving the WUSCHEL (WUS) and CLAVATA (CLV1-3) genes. WUS signals from the organizing center (OC) to promote stem cell fate at the meristem apex. Stem cells express the secreted peptide CLV3 that activates a signal transduction cascade to restrict WUS expression, thus providing a feedba...

In plants, the stem cells residing in shoot apical meristems (SAM) give rise to above-ground tissues (Aichinger et al., 2012). Hence, the maintenance of stem cell niches is of central importance to a plant’s continued growth and development (Fletcher and Meyerowitz, 2000; Gordon et al., 2009). For the flowering plantArabidopsis thaliana, the genetic determinants of stem cell growth, division, a...

Maintenance of stem cells in the Arabidopsis thaliana shoot meristem is regulated by signals from the underlying cells of the organizing center, provided through the transcription factor WUSCHEL (WUS). Here, we report the isolation of several independent mutants of MGOUN1 (MGO1) as genetic suppressors of ectopic WUS activity and enhancers of stem cell defects in hypomorphic wus alleles. mgo1 mu...