In vitro Transdifferentiation Approaches for Dissecting Vascular Cell Identity in Arabidopsis

Plant vascular tissues consist of multiple cell types that together coordinate long-distance transport, signaling, and perform diverse metabolic functions. While extensive research uncovered key regulators of vascular patterning and function, the dissection of individual vascular cell types has been hindered by their inaccessibility in planta and the interdependence among the cell types. To overcome these limitations, in vitro transdifferentiation-based approaches have emerged as powerful experimental tools. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of current transdifferentiation strategies used to generate vascular cell types in Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis), discuss conceptual and technical limitations, and suggest future possibilities and necessity of transdifferentiation-based frameworks to dissect cell-type-specific regulatory programs within complex vascular tissues.