Question

Are meristems pluripotent?

Answer 1

Meristem is a type of tissue that is found in plants. It consists of undifferentiated cells that are capable of cell division. Meristem cells can develop into all other tissues and organs that occur in plants. These cells continue to divide until they become differentiated and then lose their ability to divide.

Complete answer:
In general, differentiated plant cells cannot divide or produce cells of a different type. Meristematic cells are undifferentiated or incompletely differentiated, totipotent, and capable of continuous cell division. Meristematic cell division provides new cells for the expansion and differentiation of tissues and the initiation of new organs, providing the basic structure of the plant body.

The cells are small, with no or little vacuoles, and the protoplasm fills the cell completely. Plastics (chloroplasts or chromoplasts) are undifferentiated but are present in a rudimentary form (proplastids). Meristematic cells are packed together closely without intercellular spaces. The cell wall is a thin primary cell wall.

There are three types of meristematic tissues: apical (in the tips), intercalar (in the middle), and lateral (at the sides). There is a small group of slowly dividing cells at the meristem summit, commonly referred to as the central zone. Cells in this zone have a stem cell function and are essential for the maintenance of meristem. The rate of proliferation and growth at the meristem summit usually differs considerably from those at the periphery.

Pluripotent plant stem cells reside in microenvironments called meristems. Two primary meristems, apical meristem shoot (SAM) and apical meristem root (RAM) are responsible for longitudinal plant growth and are located at the tip of the stem and root, respectively. Since meristem cells can develop into any other type of tissue in plants, Thus, they are pluripotent.

Note: Under appropriate conditions, each shoot may develop into a complete, new plant or a clone. Such new plants can be grown from shoots containing apical meristem. However, root apical meristems are not easily cloned. This cloning is called asexual reproduction or vegetative reproduction and is widely practiced in horticulture to produce plants of a desirable genotype. This process is also known as mericloning.