Spatial and temporal tracing of vessel differentiation in young Arabidopsis seedlings by the expression of an immature tracheary element-specific promoter.

The vascular system is a complex tissue composed of several vascular cell types. However, little is known about the differentiation process of each vascular cell in situ. In this study, we found that the expression of the Zinnia cysteine protease 4 (ZCP4) promoter is restricted to only immature tracheary elements (TEs) in situ. Therefore, we monitored the early TE differentiation process in young Arabidopsis seedlings using a fusion gene of the ZCP4 promoter and the beta-glucuronidase gene as a molecular marker. This approach revealed unique processes of vessel differentiation during early seedling development, in which discontinuous initiation of vessel element differentiation occurs at distinct regions, followed by the simultaneous differentiation of protoxylem vessels and bidirectional differentiation of metaxylem vessels to form a vessel in the plant body.