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Tansley Review No. 91 Differentiation, growth and morphogenesis: Acetabularia as a model system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 1997

THEÉRÈSE VANDEN DRIESSCHE
Affiliation:
Université Libre de Bruxelles, Department of Molecular Biology, Avenue des Ortolans 46, B-1170 Brussels, Belgium
GHISLAINE M. PETIAU-DE VRIES
Affiliation:
Université Libre de Bruxelles, Faculté de Médecine, Chimie générale I, CP 609, Route de Lennik 808, B-1070 Brussels, Belgium
JEAN-LUC GUISSET
Affiliation:
Université Libre de Bruxelles, Faculté des Sciences, Pool de Physique, CP 222, Campus de la Plaine, Bd du Triomphe, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to review the present knowledge of the main aspects of differentiation of Acetabularia, a unicellular, eukaryotic organism, and to underline the multiple control pathways modulated by circadian rhythmicity. Growth and morphogenesis are sequentially programmed. Timing of cap differentiation is highly dependent on external conditions. The importance of the sequence of processes is shown by experimental disregulation.

The alga is a highly polarized cell, both in morphology and in the relative concentrations of a number of the molecules it contains. Apical cap differentiation is regulated at the post-transcriptional level and could also depend in part on polyamines and on proteolytic activity.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Trustees of The New Phytologist 1997

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