Tuber, or not tuber: Molecular and morphological basis of underground storage organ development

Underground storage organs occur in phylogenetically diverse plant taxa and arise from multiple tissue types including roots and stems. Thickening growth allows underground storage organs to accommodate carbohydrates and other nutrients and requires proliferation at various lateral meristems followed by cell expansion. The WOX-CLE module regulates thickening growth via the vascular cambium in several eudicot systems, but the molecular mechanisms of proliferation at other lateral meristems are not well understood. In potato, onion, and other systems, members of the phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein (PEBP) gene family induce underground storage organ development in response to photoperiod cues. While molecular mechanisms of tuber development in potato are well understood, we lack detailed mechanistic knowledge for the extensive morphological and taxonomic diversity of underground storage organs in plants.