Back

OBERON3 and SUPPRESSOR OF MAX2 1-LIKE proteins form a regulatory module specifying phloem identity

Wallner, E.-S.; Tonn, N.; Wanke, F.; Lopez-Salmeron, V.; Gebert, M.; Wenzl, C.; Lohmann, J. U.; Harter, K.; Greb, T.

2019-12-23 plant biology
10.1101/2019.12.21.885863 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Spatial specificity of cell fate decisions is central for organismal development. The phloem tissue mediates long-distance transport of energy metabolites along plant bodies and is characterized by an exceptional degree of cellular specialization. How a phloem-specific developmental program is implemented is, however, unknown. Here we reveal that the ubiquitously expressed PHD-finger protein OBE3 forms a central module with the phloem- specific SMXL5 protein for establishing phloem identity in Arabidopsis thaliana. By protein interaction studies and phloem-specific ATAC-seq analyses, we show that OBE3 and SMXL5 proteins form a complex in nuclei of phloem stem cells where they establish a phloem-specific chromatin profile. This profile allows expression of OPS, BRX, BAM3, and CVP2 genes acting as mediators of phloem differentiation. Our findings demonstrate that OBE3/SMXL5 protein complexes establish nuclear features essential for determining phloem cell fate and highlight how a combination of ubiquitous and local regulators generate specificity of developmental decisions in plants.

Matching journals

The top 6 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.

50% of probability mass above

"Similar papers" are the closest papers from that journal in the model's embedding space. They show what the match is built on, but the ranking comes mostly from a classifier over the whole training set, not from these examples alone.