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Background  Throughout their lives plants produce new organs from groups of pluripotent cells called meristems, located at the tips of the shoot and the root. The size of the shoot meristem is tightly controlled by a feedback loop, which involves the homeodomain transcription factor WUSCHEL (WUS) and the CLAVATA (CLV) proteins. This regulatory circuit is further fine-tuned by morphogenic signals such as hormones and sugars.    Results  Here we show that a family of four plant-specific proteins, encoded by the  FANTASTIC FOUR  ( FAF ) genes, has the potential to regulate shoot meristem size in  Arabidopsis thaliana .  FAF2  and  FAF4  are expressed in the centre of the shoot meristem, overlapping with the site of  WUS  expression. Consistent with a regulatory interaction between the  FAF  gene family and  WUS , our experiments indicate that the FAFs can repress  WUS , which ultimately leads to an arrest of meristem activity in  FAF  overexpressing lines. The finding that meristematic expression of  FAF2  and  FAF4  is under negative control by CLV3 further supports the hypothesis that the FAFs are modulators of the genetic circuit that regulates the meristem.    Conclusion  This study reports the initial characterization of the  Arabidopsis thaliana FAF  gene family. Our data indicate that the  FAF  genes form a plant specific gene family, the members of which have the potential to regulate the size of the shoot meristem by modulating the CLV3-WUS feedback loop.

The FANTASTIC FOUR proteins influence shoot meristem size in Arabidopsis thaliana