How do plants regenerate damaged tissues and produce new individuals?

Plants can not only repair damaged tissues, but also produce new organs or even new individuals from parts of their bodies, such as leaves, stems, roots, and gemmae. This remarkable ability for regeneration and vegetative propagation is an important trait that allows plants to survive, multiply, and adapt to diverse environments while remaining in the places where they grow.

However, not all plant cells regenerate in the same way. Many questions remain unanswered: Which cells or tissues become the starting points for new growth? How do cell identities change during regeneration? How are new body axes and meristems established? And how do plant hormones and cell polarity contribute to these processes?

In our laboratory, we study the processes of vegetative propagation and tissue regeneration using bryophytes and ferns. In particular, by using live imaging and microscopy, we aim to understand where regeneration-initiating cells emerge, how cell division and cell polarity change, how plant hormones act, and how new organs or body axes are formed.

Our current and future research projects include:

1.Mechanisms of vegetative propagation

2.Mechanisms of tissue regeneration

3.Regulation of cellular totipotency underlying vegetative propagation and tissue regeneration