What role do KNOX proteins have in maintaining the apical meristem?

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What role do KNOX proteins have in maintaining the apicalmeristem?

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Summary Knotted1like homeobox KNOX proteins are homeodomain transcription factors that maintain an important pluripotent cell population called the shoot apical meristem which generates the entire aboveground body of vascular plants KNOX proteins regulate target genes that control hormone homeostasis in the meristem and interact with another subclass of homeodomain proteins called the BELL family Studies in novel genetic systems both at the base of the land plant phylogeny and in flowering plants have uncovered novel roles for KNOX proteins in sculpting plant form and its diversity Here we discuss how KNOX proteins influence plant growth and development in a versatile contextdependent manner Introduction The maize knotted1 kn1 gene was isolated two decades ago through transposon tagging in a mutant with striking knotted leaves and revealed that the predicted gene product encoded a member of the homeodomain superfamily of transcriptional regulators This discovery generated considerable excitement among developmental biologists not least because the isolation of animal homeobox genes a few years earlier had revolutionized our understanding of the molecular basis of metazoan development and evolution The cloning of the first member of a KNOX gene family in maize led to a similar explosion of new research in plant development Hake et al 1995 Today a substantial body of information exists on the function of KNOX proteins in both model and nonmodel plants These studies have revealed parallels with the mechanistic action of animal TALE homeodomain proteins and have helped us to understand how these proteins influence plant development and to unravel key aspects of the logic that underpins cell fate allocation and tissue differentiation in the green branch of See Answer

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