WUSCHEL triggers innate antiviral immunity in plant stem cells
Haijun Wu, Xiaoya Qu, Zhicheng Dong, Linjie Luo, Chen Shao, Joachim Forner, Jan U. Lohmann, Meng Su, Mengchu Xu, Xiaobin Liu, Lei Zhu, Jian Zeng, Sumei Liu, Zhaoxia Tian, Zhong Zhao
Abstract
Building a safe space for stem cells The meristem, the collection of stem cells that builds plants, is resistant to viral infection. Wu et al. now show that WUSCHEL, a transcription factor that helps to sustain stem cell production in the shoot apical meristem of Arabidopsis , also protects that stem cell domain from viruses. WUSCHEL inhibited viral protein synthesis by repressing methyltransferases that regulate ribosomal RNA processing and ribosome stability. Science , this issue p. 227
Topics & Concepts
MeristemBiologyCell biologyStem cellInnate immune systemArabidopsisImmune systemGeneticsGeneMutantPlant Molecular Biology ResearchPlant Virus Research StudiesPlant-Microbe Interactions and Immunity