# Molecular Mechanisms of Stem Cell Homeostasis in Arabidopsis

> **NIH NIH R01** · PURDUE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $310,365

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
In multicellular organisms including animals, plants and human beings, stem cells play conserved roles in
maintaining themselves undifferentiated but continuously dividing to sustain organ development and body
formation. Defects in stem cell function lead to abnormal organ development and diseases. On the other side,
unraveling stem cell behavior and regulation can provide effective cell-based therapies including tissue
regeneration for human diseases such as neurodegeneration, diabetes, and heart disease. To date, the
regulatory mechanisms controlling the initiation, proliferation and termination of stem cell niches are still not fully
understood. Here, we propose to determine the cellular and molecular basis underlying stem cell homeostasis
using the Arabidopsis shoot apical meristem (SAM) as a model system. Because undifferentiated stem cells in
Arabidopsis SAMs are at and near the surface and the living SAMs can maintain sessile during experiments,
non-invasive time-lapse live imaging approaches are particularly effective in Arabidopsis, to follow the fate of
each stem cell and their derivatives and to quantify cell dynamics in vivo. In addition, great genetic resources in
Arabidopsis allow us to quantitatively dissect gene function through using an existing array of mutants with
changed SAM sizes and stem cell numbers. Using this system, through a combination of in vivo time-lapse
confocal imaging, transient and stable perturbations of gene function, in vitro biochemistry and in silico
quantification and modeling approaches, we aim to uncover mechanisms by which a small group of key
transcriptional regulators that are excluded from stem cells but determine the identity and activity of the stem
cells in the SAMs. Our work will not only define the yet missing molecular linkage and cell-cell communication
between differentiated and undifferentiated cells, but also elucidate a regulatory network underlying a cell non-
autonomous phenomenon in control of stem cell homeostasis.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10278380
- **Project number:** 1R01GM143268-01
- **Recipient organization:** PURDUE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Yun Zhou
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $310,365
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-15 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10278380

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10278380, Molecular Mechanisms of Stem Cell Homeostasis in Arabidopsis (1R01GM143268-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10278380. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*