Xylem is a plant tissue for mechanical support and water transportation, as well as a key natural resource and carbon sink. To understand xylem formation, the team of Chuan Ku (Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology) and Ying-Chung Jimmy Lin (National Taiwan University) analyzed single-cell transcriptomes of four divergent trees, including a native Taiwanese species without libriform fibers and vessel elements. The results provide a cell atlas for xylem development and new perspectives for plant tissue evo-devo research. This work was recently published in Genome Biology.

More information
https://ipmb.sinica.edu.tw/en/activities/highlights/475

Article link
https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-022-02845-1

Development and evolution of xylem — the most abundant tissue on Earth