In vitro fertilization - a tool to dissect cell specification from a higher plant zygote.

摘要

Generally, the life of sexual organisms starts from a single cell, the fertilized egg cell or zygote. By cell division and growth, this single cell finally gives rise to the mature organism, which contains different cell types, tissues and organs. The zygote, the progenitor cell, is the origin for the formation of cells of different developmental fates and the main body axes. In flowering plants (angiosperms), little is known about the underlying mechanisms of these processes and, in spite of its fundamental importance, the regulation of early embryonic development is only poorly understood. New data suggest that the asymmetric division of the zygote separates determinants of apical and basal cell fates, and that programmes of transcription are initiated in the domains of single cells of the early embryo. In this context, we describe results obtained by the use of powerful tools of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and micromanipulation techniques for the elucidation of mechanisms of early embryonic patterning in higher plants. Single cell manipulation and IVF techniques are outlined in this review, genes expressed in apical and basal cells or zygotes of maize and Arabidopsis thaliana are described, and prospects for further research on early higher plant embryogenesis are outlined..