Callus formation and de novo organogenesis often occur in the wounded tissues of plants. Although this regenerative capacity of plant cells has been utilized for many years, molecular basis for the wound-induced acquisition of regeneration competency is yet to be elucidated. Here we find that wounding treatment is essential for shoot regeneration from roots in the conventional tissue culture of Arabidopsis thaliana. Furthermore, we show that an AP2/ERF transcription factor WOUND INDUCED DEDIFFERENTIATION1 (WIND1) plays a pivotal role for the acquisition of regeneration competency in the culture system. Ectopic expression of WIND1 can bypass both wounding and auxin pre-treatment and increase de novo shoot regeneration from root explants cultured on shoot-regeneration promoting media. In Brassica napus, activation of Arabidopsis WIND1 also greatly enhances de novo shoot regeneration, further corroborating the role of WIND1 in conferring cellular regenerative capacity. Our data also show that sequential activation of WIND1 and an embryonic regulator LEAFY COTYLEDON2 enhances generation of embryonic callus, suggesting that combining WIND1 with other transcription factors promote efficient and organ-specific regeneration. Our findings in the model plant and crop plant point to a possible way to efficiently induce callus formation and regeneration by utilizing transcription factors as a molecular switch.

Plants often display a high competence for regeneration under stress conditions. Signals produced in response to various types of stress serve as critical triggers for de novo organogenesis, but the identity of these signaling molecules underlying cellular reprogramming are largely unknown. We previously identified an AP2/ERF transcription factor, WOUND INDUCED DEDIFFERENTIATION1 (WIND1), as a key regulator involved in wound-induced cellular reprogramming in Arabidopsis. In this study, we found that activation of Arabidopsis WIND1 (AtWIND1) in hypocotyl explants of Brassica napus (B. napus) enhances callus formation and subsequent organ regeneration. Gene expression analyses revealed that AtWIND1 enhances expression of B. napus homologs of ENHANCER OF SHOOT REGENERATION1/DORNRÖSCHEN (ESR1/DRN), which is a direct target of WIND1 in Arabidopsis. Further, time-course hormonal analyses showed that an altered balance of endogenous auxin/cytokinin exists in AtWIND1-activated B. napus explants. Our mass spectrometry analyses, in addition, uncovered dynamic metabolomic reprogramming in AtWIND1-activated explants, including accumulation of several compounds, e.g. proline, gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), and putrescine, that have historically been utilized as additives to enhance plant cell reprogramming in tissue culture. Our findings thus provide new insights into how WIND1 functions to promote cell reprogramming.