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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Breeding
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1546660
The vascular-cambium-specific transcription factor PtrSCZ1 and its homologue regulate cambium activity and affect xylem development in Populus trichocarpa
Provisionally accepted
Yi Sun Jianing Jiang Qiongyue Zhang Jinfeng Zhao Hongyan Ma Danning Li 
Shuang Li 
Chenguang Zhou *
Wei Li *- Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China
Vascular cambium proliferates and differentiates into the secondary xylem (wood), enabling the perennial increase in stem diameter for wood formation. In our previous study, we identified 95 vascular-cambium-specific (VCS) transcription factors (TFs) in Populus trichocarpa. In this study, we characterized the function of the highly vascular cambium-expressed heat shock TF among these VCSs, PtrSCZ1, using PtrSCZ1-overexpressing transgenic lines and gene-edited mutants in P. trichocarpa. Overexpressing PtrSCZ1 or its homolog PtrSCZ3 (OE-PtrSCZ1, OE-PtrSCZ3) led to enhanced cambium activity, increased stem diameter, and a larger xylem proportion. CRISPR-based mutants of PtrSCZ1 and PtrSCZ3 exhibited phenotypes opposite to the OE-PtrSCZ1 and OE-PtrSCZ3 plants. This suggests that PtrSCZ1 and PtrSCZ3 redundantly promote cambium activity and secondary growth, leading to increased radial growth in P. trichocarpa. Overexpression and knockout of PtrSCZ1 and PtrSCZ3 significantly affected the expression of key regulatory factors of cambium (PtrWOX4a, PtrWOX4b, PtrWOX13a, PtrPXYa, PtrVCM1, and PtrVCM2) and disrupted cell wall-related gene expression. This demonstrates that PtrSCZ1 and PtrSCZ3 may function in cambium division activity by regulating these key cambium-associated transcription factors for wood formation. Our work identifies PtrSCZ1 and PtrSCZ3 as promising target genes for enhancing wood yield through molecular breeding, and illustrates the role of vascular cambium systems in understanding lateral meristem development.
Keywords: Vascular cambium, xylem development, wood formation, transcription factor, PtrSCZs, Populus trichocarpa
Received: 17 Dec 2024; Accepted: 21 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sun, Jiang, Zhang, Zhao, Ma, Li, Li, Zhou and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Chenguang Zhou, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China
Wei Li, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China
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