RATE OF INDUCED CELLULAR DEDIFFERENTIATION IN CATHARANTHUS ROSEUS

Abstract

During floral ontogeny in Catharanlhus roseus , approximately 400 epidermal cells are induced to rapidly dedifferentiate during postgenital fusion, an unequivocal case of intercellular communication between somatic plant cells. Some fusing cells completely dedifferentiate within 4.3 hr of cell contact, and by 8.9 hr virtually all the cells undergo the dramatic change in cell shape and cytological features. To our knowledge, this is the fastest case of induced cell differentiation reported to date in any eukaryotic system.