| Wood is formed by the meristematic activity of the vascular cambium, a cylindrical meristem located between the xylem and phloem. Little is known about the regulation of the vascular cambium and there are no reports of mutants lacking a vascular cambium. An Arabidopsis thaliana mutant that lacks a cambium and does not undergo secondary growth was identified. This mutant was called cambiumless and it was postulated that the CAMBIUMLESS protein was a positive regulator of vascular cambium development. A map-based cloning strategy was used to identify the CAMBIUMLESS gene and it was found to be identical to CURLY LEAF (CLF), a gene that encodes a Polycomb-Group protein and known to be involved in epigenetic regulation of floral homeotic genes. This work identifies a novel role for CLF in the regulation of the vascular cambium. |
