What is it about?
Growth of organs depends on stem cells. The concept of stem cells of plant organs was formulated by one of the authors of this article (Barlow, 1977) and the concept emerged as a consequence of the discovery by Prof. Frederick Albert Lionel Clowes of the quiescent centre (QC) in plant roots. The QC is an organizing centre and stem cell niche at the same time and the article addresses how the concept of the QC arose.
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Why is it important?
The concept was conceived 60 years ago, and this article analyzes what steps in conceptual development permitted to Prof. Clowes to come to formulation of the concept of the QC. Why this is important? The first phrase of the article answers this question: “To learn how new concepts are conceived and developed is a way to understand scientific progress, appreciate important achievements, and develop one’s own skill at evolving new concepts.”
Perspectives
I had a sabbatical year in the Department of Plant Sciences at Oxford University and was very much interested in Prof. Clowes work in general and in the history of the QC discovery. I was keen to know what exactly Prof. Clowes did and how he came to the discovery. However, I did not find any notes of his experiments. After some investigation, I was able to contact Prof. Clowes’ daughter, Mrs Debby Winson. She was very kind and permitted me and Mrs S. Marner from the Department to see the archive of Prof. Clowes. In his archive, we found the books of the experiments and from there more details become available. A friend of mine, Prof. Peter Barlow, was a Ph.D. student of Prof. Clowes and I invited him to coauthor this short article. It was a pleasure to work with Peter. Soon after the article was published Prof. Clowes passed away (21 September 2016, age 95). It was a shock for all when we knew that Prof. Barlow died of pneumonia and septicaemia 26 January 2017. I can just repeat what Isaac Newton said: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”.
Professor Joseph G. Dubrovsky
IBT-UNAM
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The origins of the quiescent centre concept, New Phytologist, January 2015, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/nph.13307.
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