plant cell differentation - help!!

@madz_08

Hi,

Interesting Q young man!

I think we can only THINK and make intuitive assumptions.

Firstly, it will depend slightly on whether you are talking about simple plants like mosses and ferns (which reproduce asexually), OR higher plants which reproduce sexually with pollen fertilizing ova after passing down the pistil into the ovary.

Because simple plants have a less varied range of cells/tissues, their stem cells would need to be less omnipotent i.e. they can be more "general", perhaps even ahead in the development process at the outset, as they do not need the capacity to differentiate into many different cell types.

The picture would be similar in higher plants, but to a lesser extent, since now [at this slightly later stage in evolutionary cycle], you have roots, stem, flowers, leaves - in short, a wider range of tissues/cells, so the stem cells need to be a little more omnipotent than in e.g. ferns. Having said that, not many plants fall in love [they don't have hearts ] and nor do they go to the loo [they do not have kidneys or a**s*s] - you get my point? - as plants do not have the complexity of animals, even lower animals, we can safely conclude that their differentiation process is likely to be less intricate and needs to permit a lesser degree of diversification.

I hope this makes sense!

M