{
  "id": 5337608,
  "title": "VLCFA-mediated inter-cell layer communication controls cellular pluripotency in Arabidopsis callus",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/vlcfa-mediated-inter-cell-layer-communication-controls-cellular",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-03T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.748728v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Arabidopsis plants possess the unique ability to regenerate entire organ systems from tissue explants. In a two-step tissue culture system, pluripotency regulators are expressed in the middle-cell layer of the stratified callus tissue. However, the mechanisms behind radial patterning of the callus were not well understood.\n\nThis study reveals that very-long-chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) synthesized in the epidermis-like outermost layer are crucial for pluripotency acquisition and successful shoot regeneration. Through genetic and transcriptomic analyses, researchers discovered that VLCFAs exert their regulatory roles on pluripotency acquisition via inter-cell layer signaling within the callus tissue. Although VLCFAs are not dependent on ATML1/PDF2 functions or cuticular wax synthesis in the outermost layer, they play a role in spatially restricting procambium cell identity.\n\nBy non-cell-autonomously suppressing cytokinin signaling, VLCFAs enable the establishment of the middle-cell layer. This inhibitory relationship between layer-specific regulators maintains the delicate balance required for cellular fate determination in pluripotent callus.",
  "summary": "Plants have remarkable capacity to reconstruct entire organ systems from tissue explants. In Arabidopsis two-step tissue culture system, pluripotency regulators are specifically expressed in the middle-cell layer of the stratified callus tissue. However, regulatory mechanisms underlying the radial patterning of callus remained unclear. Here, we found that very-long-chain fatty acids (VLCFAs)…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}