Maintenance and Function of Barley Shoot Meristems

We investigate barley meristem and stem cell regulation using our knowledge on Arabidopsis signalling pathways as a starting point. We found that a CLAVATA-like signalling pathway operates also in barley, and controls the proliferation of different meristems in the barley inflorescence. Using a targeted mutagenesis strategy, we found that conserved peptide activated receptor kinase signalling pathways control growth and differentiation in the diverse barley meristems, but that their regulation, expression patterns and their integration into plant development is very distinct and specialised for grasses. We propose here to further explore the functions of CLE peptide and CLAVATA-family receptor signalling in barley stem cell systems using (i) induced mutations and (ii) generation of single cell RNA sequencing data for above-ground meristem types. Mutants and gene functions will be further characterised using gene expression profiling via high-throughput RNA in situ hybridisation and reporter lines. By integrating our results with those of our consortium partners that are working on closely related aspects of stem cell regulation in barley, maize and Brachypodium, we will jointly develop a deeper understanding of stem cell systems of cereal plants.