Coordination of Cell Proliferation and Differentiation: Finding a GEM in the Root?

How cells acquire specific fates in conjunction with cell division is a major developmental question. In a recent issue of Nature , Caro and colleagues describe the Arabidopsis protein GEM, which interacts both with DNA-replication and transcriptional regulators (Caro et al., 2007). The results are surprisingly reminiscent of the dual functions reported for Geminin in animals.