Full-length RPB1 is required in two-step shoot regeneration

Regeneration is a complicated progress in plants and animals. Most multicellular organisms can regenerate new tissue when wounded, and plants excel most animals in their ability to regenerate whole new growth module from adult tissues. Regeneration in Arabidopsis includes two steps. Firstly, the explants from differentiated plant tissues such as roots or hypocotyls are induced to generate callus, then the shoots regenerate upon the callus. The phytohormone auxin and cytokinin play important parts in this process. And genes related to auxin and cytokinin siganls involved in the regeneration have been studied widely. As we reported before, in Arabidopsis the full-length CTD of RNA Polymerase II's largest subunit RPB1 is necessary in keeping normal cell cycling and maintaining stem cell niches. Here, we report that the mutants of card1s have significant defects in the regeneration progress both in the induction of callus and the formation of shoot. All the results further proved the importance of intact RPB1 from a distinctive perspective.