The root cap protects the stem cell niche of angiosperm roots from damage. In Arabidopsis, lateral root cap (LRC) cells covering the meristematic zone are regularly lost through programmed cell death, while the outermost layer of the root cap covering the tip is repeatedly sloughed. Efficient coordination with stem cells producing new layers is needed to maintain a constant size of the cap. We present a signalling pair, the peptide IDA-LIKE1 (IDL1) and its receptor HAESA-LIKE2 (HSL2), mediating such communication. Live imaging over several days characterized this process from initial fractures in LRC cell files to full separation of a layer. Enhanced expression of IDL1 in the separating root cap layers resulted in increased frequency of sloughing, balanced with generation of new layers in a HSL2-dependent manner. Transcriptome analyses linked IDL1-HSL2 signalling to the transcription factors BEARSKIN1/2 and genes associated with programmed cell death. Mutations in either IDL1 or HSL2 slowed down cell division, maturation and separation. Thus, IDL1-HSL2 signalling potentiates dynamic regulation of the homeostatic balance between stem cell division and sloughing activity.

Plant survival depends on vascular tissues, which originate in a self-organizing manner as strands of cells co-directionally transporting the plant hormone auxin. The latter phenomenon (also known as auxin canalization) is classically hypothesized to be regulated by auxin itself via the effect of this hormone on the polarity of its own intercellular transport. Correlative observations supported this concept, but molecular insights remain limited.In the current study, we established an experimental system based on the model Arabidopsis thaliana, which exhibits auxin transport channels and formation of vasculature strands in response to local auxin application.Our methodology permits the genetic analysis of auxin canalization under controllable experimental conditions. By utilizing this opportunity, we confirmed the dependence of auxin canalization on a PIN-dependent auxin transport and nuclear, TIR1/AFB-mediated auxin signaling. We also show that leaf venation and auxin-mediated PIN repolarization in the root require TIR1/AFB signaling.Further studies based on this experimental system are likely to yield better understanding of the mechanisms underlying auxin transport polarization in other developmental contexts.