【Tech 24H】Shandong Agricultural University has, for the first time globally, fully revealed how a single plant somatic cell develops into a complete plant, uncovering a critical fate divergence point: one path leads to stomatal precursor cells differentiating into stomata, while the other path involves the reprogramming of a single somatic cell into a totipotent stem cell driven by the synthesis of endogenous auxin, embarking on embryonic development. This breakthrough resolves the long-standing mystery of the “totipotency of plant cells” that has perplexed the scientific community, also providing new theoretical support for crop genetic improvement and efficient regeneration.