Single-cell transcriptomics of the maize shoot apex

Shoot apical meristems (SAMs) provide the undifferentiated cellular material that allow plants to grow and initiate new organs throughout their lifespan. Understanding the gene expression patterns underlying SAM development is therefore crucial for understanding plants' remarkable capacity for indeterminate growth. We sequenced the transcriptomes of individual cells isolated from the maize seedling vegetative SAM and the wider vegetative shoot apex to understand the gene expression landscape of the SAM and its cellular descendants, which make up the leaves and stem. Using this data, we shed light on the genetic regulation of the SAM as well as the genes that control plant cell differentiation and identity.