In plants, where cells are surrounded by a rigid cell wall, the positional relationship between daughter cells generated by cell division is permanently maintained. Plants utilize phytohormones and secrete signal peptides to establish the somatic axis and regulate stem cells which enable the formation and organization of organs such as flowers and leaves. We study the molecular mechanisms underlying these morphogenetic processes using the moss Physcomitrium patens.P. patens is amenable to techniques such as high-resolution imaging, CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, and inducible RNAi, making it a particularly suitable model plant for cell biological analyses. By taking advantage of the moss’s properties, we are currently focusing on the cytokinesis process of cell division in plants.
Nagoya University
