Biology subjects

Prunet, N.

Publications and source records attributed to Prunet, N..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

CLAVATA3 peptide signaling from stem cells integrates vascular organization and stem cell maintenance in Arabidopsis shoots

Terrestrial plant biomass relies on the formation of vascular bundles (VBs) comprising xylem, cambial, and phloem cells that drive secondary growth and wood formation. How VB formation and organization is coordinated with stem growth remains unclear. Here, we show that the conserved CLAVATA3 peptide (CLV3p)-receptor stem cell signaling pathway represses vascular transcriptional programs in the shoot apical meristem (SAM), thereby preventing ectopic vascular differentiation in the stem center, and quantitatively regulates peripheral VB number. Mutational analysis of conserved CLV3p residues partially uncouples its roles in vascular differentiation from stem cell maintenance. However, overexpression and mutational analysis with key phloem regulators reveals that CLV3p controls vascular and stem cell programs via a DOF (DNA-BINDING WITH ONE FINGER) and SMXL (SUPPRESSOR OF MAX2 1-LIKE) transcriptional module. Our findings identify a novel role for CLV3p signaling in shoot vascular development and establish a regulatory framework integrating stem cell signaling with vascular patterning.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2021

The making of cauliflowers: the story of unsuccessful flowers

The arrangement of plant organs, called phyllotaxis, produce remarkable spiral or whorled patterns. Cauliflowers present a unique phyllotaxis with a multitude of spirals over a wide range of scales. How such a self-similar fractal organization emerges from developmental mechanisms has remained elusive. Combining experimental assays with modeling, we found that cauliflowers arise due to the hysteresis of the bistable floral network that generates inflorescences imprinted by a transient floral state. We further show how additional mutations affecting meristem growth dynamics can induce the production of conical phyllotactic structures reminiscent of the conspicuous fractal Romanesco shape. This study reveals how the spectacular morphological modification of the inflorescences in cauliflower and Romanesco shape arises from the hysteresis of the genetic programs controlling inflorescence development. One Sentence SummaryThe molecular making of cauliflowers

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2020

A multiscale analysis of early flower development in Arabidopsis provides an integrated view of molecular regulation and growth control

The link between gene regulation and morphogenesis of multicellular organisms is a fundamental problem in biology. We address this question in the floral meristem of Arabidopsis, which generates new tissues and organs through complex changes in growth patterns. Starting from high-resolution time-lapse images, we generated a comprehensive 4-D atlas of early flower development including cell lineage, cellular growth rates and the expression patterns of 28 regulatory genes. This information was introduced in MorphoNet, a web-based open-access platform. The application of mechanistic computational models indicated that the molecular network based on the literature only explained a minority of the expression patterns. This was substantially improved by adding single regulatory hypotheses for individual genes. We next used the integrated information to correlate growth with the combinatorial expression of multiple genes. This led us to propose a set of hypotheses for the action of individual genes in morphogenesis, not visible by simply correlating gene expression and growth. This identified the central transcription factor LEAFY as a potential regulator of heterogeneous growth, which was supported by quantifying growth patterns in a leafy mutant. By providing an integrated, multiscale view of flower development, this atlas should represent a fundamental step towards mechanistic multiscale-scale models of flower development.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2017

SUPERMAN prevents stamen formation and promotes stem cell termination in the fourth whorl of the Arabidopsis flower

The molecular and genetic networks underlying the determination of floral organ identity are well studied, but much less is known about how the flower is partitioned into four developmentally distinct whorls. The SUPERMAN gene is required for proper specification of the boundary between stamens in whorl 3 and carpels in whorl 4, as superman mutants exhibit supernumerary stamens but usually lack carpels. However, it has remained unclear whether extra stamens in superman mutants originate from an organ identity change in whorl 4 or the overproliferation of whorl 3. Using live confocal imaging, we show that the extra stamens in superman mutants arise from cells in whorl 4, which change their fate from female to male, while floral stem cells proliferate longer, allowing for the production of additional stamens.

developmental biology↗