Practice question

Early zygote asymmetry in plants, exemplified by Arabidopsis, involves polar distribution and differential gene expression establishing apical-basal axis before first division. WOX2 and WOX8 are WUSCHEL-related homeobox transcription factors marking apical and basal cell identities respectively after zygotic division. WOX2 promotes shoot lineage in apical daughter, WOX8 drives basal lineage leading to suspensor and root. Their asymmetric expression reflects pre-existing polarity in zygote and auxin transport. Oct4-Eomes-Nanog are mammalian pluripotency regulators not applicable to plant zygote; WOX network provides analogous molecular polarity mechanism instructing differential fate from single fertilized cell in embryogenesis.