Cell structure of an inflorescence

        Spatial transcriptomics illuminates the development of reproductive tissues in barley.

IMAGE: ISAIA VARDANEGA AND EDGAR DEMESA AREVALO

This articlecaught my attention because the imaging of this barley inflorescence is beautiful and clearly shows how its cellular structure develops with time. I am going to look closely and photograph grape inflorescences this year to see what I can learn. 

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"Barley inflorescences are made up of multiple pools of stem cells, which form the basis for flower formation and subsequent seed development. Demesa-Arevalo et al. combined single-cell RNA-sequencing data from barley inflorescences with spatial in situ gene expression data from sectioned tissue to make a searchable virtual database of cell-level transcriptional profiles. The authors were able to identify transcriptional characteristics of incipient primordia cells before they attained their classical marker gene identity or became morphologically distinct. This work provides a resource for understanding cell lineage trajectories and the genetic networks underlying reproductive development in grasses."

Nat. Plants (2026) 10.1038/s41477-025-02176-6