This month’s winning image was submitted by Keisuke Obara (University of Tokyo (ss17196@mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp)).

It shows plant (Zinnia elegans) vessel elements transdifferentiated from mesophyll cells in vitro. Yellow and red fluorescence represents acridine-orange-stained secondary cell walls and chloroplastic autofluorescence, respectively. The three-dimensional image was reconstructed from optical sections obtained by confocal microscopy (FV500, Olympus). Bar, 20 µm.

We are pleased to acknowledge the help of our two external advisors, Ariel Ruiz i Altaba (Developmental Genetics Program, New York University Medical Center) and Lelio Orci (Department of Morphology, University Medical Center, Geneva).

To see more Cell of the Month winners, please visit our Cell of the Month archive: Cell of the Month archive