Regulation of RNA metabolism is important for in vitro dedifferentiation of plant cells.

The characteristic high regenerative ability of plants has been exploited to develop in vitro plant regeneration techniques, which are usually initiated by an in vitro dedifferentiation step induced by artificial phytohormone treatment. Recent advances in plant molecular biological and genetic technologies have revealed the importance of the regulation of RNA metabolism, including the control of rRNA biosynthesis, pre-mRNA splicing, and miRNA-based RNA decay, in successful in vitro dedifferentiation. This review provides a brief overview of current knowledge of the roles of RNA metabolism in the dedifferentiation of plant cells in vitro. In addition, the possibility that plant-specific aspects of RNA metabolism regulation are linked closely to their high regenerative ability is discussed.