Speaker: Arif Ashraf, Howard University assistant professor in biology

Title: Cell division in plant development and environmental response 

Abstract: Multicellular organisms start life as a single cell and acquire more cells during the development through cell division. The classical or textbook definition of cell division highlights symmetric cell division, where a mother cell divides and produces two daughter cells with same fate and function. The question is, how do we get a new cell type? The question is, how do we get a new cell type? The answer is asymmetric cell division, where a mother cell divides and produces two daughter cells with distinct fate and function. I will tell you a cell division story about the importance of position of nucleus and nuclear envelope proteins during cell division. This story highlights the powerful use of plants as a model system to answer fundamental biology questions. 

The plant growth and development rely on cell division, cell elongation, or both. During environmental stress, the visible defect in plant growth is orchestrated at the cellular level. My lab discovered that the cell cycle uses “pause and play” mechanism during environmental stress and stress recovery conditions. This cell division story is focused on utilizing the fundamental cell cycle knowledge in translating into future climate resilient crop plants.  

Host: Dior Kelley, assistant professor in genetics, development and cell biology