The central role of stem cells in determining plant longevity variation

Vascular plants display a huge variety of longevity patterns,from a few weeks for several annual species up to thousands of years for some perennial species.Understanding how longevity variation is structured has long been considered a fundamental aspect of the life sciences in view of evolution,species distribution,and adaptation to diverse environments.Unlike animals,whose organs are typically formed during embryogenesis,vascular plants manage to extend their life by continuously producing new tissues and organs in apical and lateral directions via proliferation of stem cells located within specialized tissues called meristems.Stem cells are the main source of plant longevity.Variation in plant longevity is highly dependent on the activity and fate identity of stem cells.Multiple developmental factors determine how stem cells contribute to variation in plant longevity.In this review,we provide an overview of the genetic mechanisms,hormonal signaling,and environmental factors involved in controlling plant longevity through long-term maintenance of stem cell fate identity.

Transcriptional Regulation of the Ambient Temperature Response by H2A.Z Nucleosomes and HSF1 Transcription Factors in Arabidopsis

Temperature influences the distribution, range, and phenology of plants. The key transcriptional activators of heat shock response in eukaryotes, the heat shock factors （HSFs）, have undergone large-scale gene amplification in plants. While HSFs are central in heat stress responses, their role in the response to ambient temperature changes is less well understood. We show here that the warm ambient temperature transcriptome is dependent upon the HSFA1 clade ofArabidopsis HSFs, which cause a rapid and dynamic eviction of H2A.Z nucleosomes at target genes. A transcriptional cascade results in the activation of multiple downstream stress-responsive transcription factors, triggering large-scale changes to the transcriptome in response to elevated temperature. H2A.Z nucleosomes are enriched at temperature-responsive genes at non-inducible temperature, and thus likely confer inducibility of gene expression and higher responsive dynamics. We propose that the antagonistic effects of H2A.Z and HSF1 provide a mechanism to activate gene expression rapidly and precisely in response to temperature, while preventing leaky transcription in the absence of an activation signal.

Structural and compositional analysis of(InGa)(AsSb)/GaAs/GaP Stranski-Krastanov quantum dots

We investigated metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy grown(InGa)(AsSb)/GaAs/GaP Stranski–Krastanov quantum dots(QDs)with potential applications in QD-Flash memories by cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy(X-STM)and atom probe tomography(APT).The combination of X-STM and APT is a very powerful approach to study semiconductor heterostructures with atomic resolution,which provides detailed structural and compositional information on the system.The rather small QDs are found to be of truncated pyramid shape with a very small top facet and occur in our sample with a very high density of∼4×10^(11) cm^(−2).APT experiments revealed that the QDs are GaAs rich with smaller amounts of In and Sb.Finite element(FE)simulations are performed using structural data from X-STM to calculate the lattice constant and the outward relaxation of the cleaved surface.The composition of the QDs is estimated by combining the results from X-STM and the FE simulations,yielding∼In_(x)Ga_(1−x)As_(1−y)Sb_(y),where x=0.25–0.30 and y=0.10–0.15.Noticeably,the reported composition is in good agreement with the experimental results obtained by APT,previous optical,electrical,and theoretical analysis carried out on this material system.This confirms that the InGaSb and GaAs layers involved in the QD formation have strongly intermixed.A detailed analysis of the QD capping layer shows the segregation of Sb and In from the QD layer,where both APT and X-STM show that the Sb mainly resides outside the QDs proving that Sb has mainly acted as a surfactant during the dot formation.Our structural and compositional analysis provides a valuable insight into this novel QD system and a path for further growth optimization to improve the storage time of the QD-Flash memory devices.