TY - JOUR
T1 - Monocotyledonous plants graft at the embryonic root–shoot interface
AU - Reeves, Gregory
AU - Tripathi, Anoop
AU - Singh, Pallavi
AU - Jones, Maximillian R.W.
AU - Nanda, Amrit K.
AU - Musseau, Constance
AU - Craze, Melanie
AU - Bowden, Sarah
AU - Walker, Joseph F.
AU - Bentley, Alison R.
AU - Melnyk, Charles W.
AU - Hibberd, Julian M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2022/2/10
Y1 - 2022/2/10
N2 - Grafting is possible in both animals and plants. Although in animals the process requires surgery and is often associated with rejection of non-self, in plants grafting is widespread, and has been used since antiquity for crop improvement1. However, in the monocotyledons, which represent the second largest group of terrestrial plants and include many staple crops, the absence of vascular cambium is thought to preclude grafting2. Here we show that the embryonic hypocotyl allows intra- and inter-specific grafting in all three monocotyledon groups: the commelinids, lilioids and alismatids. We show functional graft unions through histology, application of exogenous fluorescent dyes, complementation assays for movement of endogenous hormones, and growth of plants to maturity. Expression profiling identifies genes that unify the molecular response associated with grafting in monocotyledons and dicotyledons, but also gene families that have not previously been associated with tissue union. Fusion of susceptible wheat scions to oat rootstocks confers resistance to the soil-borne pathogen Gaeumannomyces graminis. Collectively, these data overturn the consensus that monocotyledons cannot form graft unions, and identify the hypocotyl (mesocotyl in grasses) as a meristematic tissue that allows this process. We conclude that graft compatibility is a shared ability among seed-bearing plants.
AB - Grafting is possible in both animals and plants. Although in animals the process requires surgery and is often associated with rejection of non-self, in plants grafting is widespread, and has been used since antiquity for crop improvement1. However, in the monocotyledons, which represent the second largest group of terrestrial plants and include many staple crops, the absence of vascular cambium is thought to preclude grafting2. Here we show that the embryonic hypocotyl allows intra- and inter-specific grafting in all three monocotyledon groups: the commelinids, lilioids and alismatids. We show functional graft unions through histology, application of exogenous fluorescent dyes, complementation assays for movement of endogenous hormones, and growth of plants to maturity. Expression profiling identifies genes that unify the molecular response associated with grafting in monocotyledons and dicotyledons, but also gene families that have not previously been associated with tissue union. Fusion of susceptible wheat scions to oat rootstocks confers resistance to the soil-borne pathogen Gaeumannomyces graminis. Collectively, these data overturn the consensus that monocotyledons cannot form graft unions, and identify the hypocotyl (mesocotyl in grasses) as a meristematic tissue that allows this process. We conclude that graft compatibility is a shared ability among seed-bearing plants.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121497238&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41586-021-04247-y
DO - 10.1038/s41586-021-04247-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 34937943
AN - SCOPUS:85121497238
SN - 0028-0836
VL - 602
SP - 280
EP - 286
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
IS - 7896
ER -