The Arabidopsis embryonic shoot fate map

A fate map has been constructed for the shoot apical region of the embryo of the dicotyledonous plant Arabidopsis thaliana using spontaneously arising clonal albino sectors caused by the chloroplast mutator 1-2 mutation. Chimeric seedlings exhibiting albino sectors shared between the cotyledons and first true leaves revealed patterns of organ inclusion and exclusion. Frequencies of clone sharing were used to calculate developmental distances between organs based on the frequency of clonal sectors failing to extend between different organs. The resulting fate map shows asymmetry in the developmental distances between the cotyledons (embryonic leaves) which in turn predicts the location of the first post-germination leaf and the handedness of the spiral of leaf placement around the central stem axis in later development. The map suggests that embryonic leaf fate specification in the cotyledons may represent a developmental ground state necessary for the formation of the shoot apical meristem.