Meristemania · Lohmann Lab
Stem cell biology — Heidelberg University

Stem cells,
continuously —
for a plant’s entire life.

We work out how a small, self-organising niche of cells at the shoot apex specifies, maintains, and tunes the stem cell population that builds every leaf, stem and flower a plant will ever make — and how it does so across days, seasons, and generations.

Our research → Publications Join us
Arabidopsis shoot apical meristems with the CLV3 stem cell reporter in green.

CLV3 stem cell reporter in shoot apical meristems of Arabidopsis.

What we work on

Full programme →
01 — transcriptional core

WUSCHEL & the architecture of the stem cell niche

Cell-type-resolved targets, cofactors and chromatin states of WUS — and how one short-range signal sustains a population of cells across decades of growth.

02 — context-dependent networks

Decoding context-dependent genetic networks in vivo

Conditional CRISPR perturbations, single-cell transcriptomics and imaging in the Arabidopsis root tip and the Drosophila gut. Part of the ERC Synergy project DECODE.

03 — hormonal integration

Cytokinin, auxin and the whole-plant conversation

Where cytokinin, auxin and jasmonate intersect the WUS circuit — including the trade-off between growth and defence in the shoot apex.

04 — environment, growth & regeneration

Sensing the world: acclimation, regeneration and growth

How temperature, light and nutrients meet the niche through TOR-kinase signalling, and how the same cues set the limits of regeneration across Marchantia, Arabidopsis and Brachypodium. Part of the GreenRobust Cluster of Excellence.

Confocal optical section through the Arabidopsis shoot apical meristem showing the auxin-response reporter DR5 marking new organ primordia.
Auxin-response reporter (DR5) in the Arabidopsis shoot apical meristem — marking the foci of new organ initiation around the central stem cell niche.

Recent & signature work

All publications →
  1. 2023
    Nitric Oxide controls shoot meristem activity via regulation of DNA methylation. Zeng J, Zhao X, Liang Z, Hidalgo I, Gebert M, Fan P, Wenzl C, Gornik SG, Lohmann JU
    Nature Comm.
  2. 2020
    Structural basis for the complex DNA binding behavior of the plant stem cell regulator WUSCHEL. Sloan J, Hakenjos JP, Gebert M, Gumiero A, Stier G, Wild K, Sinning I, Lohmann JU
    Nature Comm.
  3. 2019
    WUSCHEL acts as an auxin response rheostat to maintain apical stem cells in Arabidopsis. Ma Y, Miotk A, Sutikovic Z, et al., Lohmann JU
    Nature Comm.
  4. 2016
    Integration of light and metabolic signals for stem cell activation at the shoot apical meristem. Pfeiffer A, Janocha D, Dong Y, et al., Hell R, Lohmann JU
    eLife
  5. 2014
    A mechanistic framework of non-cell autonomous stem cell induction in Arabidopsis. Daum G, Medzihradszky A, Suzaki T, Lohmann JU
    PNAS
  6. 2010
    Hormonal control of the shoot stem cell niche. Zhao Z, Andersen SU, Ljung K, Dolezal K, Miotk A, Schultheiss SJ, Lohmann JU
    Nature
  7. 2005
    A gene expression map of Arabidopsis thaliana development. Schmid M, Davison TS, Henz SR, Pape UJ, Demar M, Vingron M, Schölkopf B, Weigel D, Lohmann JU
    Nature Genetics
  8. 2005
    WUSCHEL controls meristem function by direct regulation of cytokinin-inducible response regulators. Leibfried A, To JPC, Stehling S, Busch W, Kehle A, Demar M, Kieber JJ, Lohmann JU
    Nature
  9. 2001
    A molecular link between stem cell regulation and floral patterning in Arabidopsis. Lohmann JU, Hong R, Hobe M, Busch MA, Parcy F, Simon R, Weigel D
    Cell

Curious about plant stem cells? Come work with us.

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