POCT Consortium
The Plant Ontology of Cell Types (POCT) Consortium
Call for Participants
We proposed a plant ontology of cell type (POCT) and an international collaboration initiative. We cordially invite you to join this alliance and participate in the refinement of POCT. Currently, we have proposed the first version of POCT (see the draft manuscript will be submitted to Molecular Plant). The first version of the classification system is merely a starting point and still has many imperfections. At the same time, single-cell omics research results continue to emerge, and we hope to continuously update POCT in the future. If you agree to join, we will include your name in the manuscript. We also welcome your suggestions/modifications for revisions to the manuscript.
During the process of establishing the plant cell type marker database PlantscRNAdb (Chen et al., 2021) and conducting plant single-cell omics research, we deeply felt that there are many issues with the definition and classification of plant cell types, while no unified standard has been put forward. Therefore, over the past two years, my laboratory has been striving to establish a plant cell type classification system to facilitate plant cell biology research. Later, I invited Zhang Zhang (China National Center for Bioinformation, established the Cell Taxonomy database), Peijian Cao and Dijun Chen (who established the plant cell type databases PCMDB and scPlantDB, respectively), to discuss and revise our classification system (POCT) on multiple occasions. Finally, we finalized the first version of POCT, and established the POCT database (www.po-ct.org, with a temporary site at http://ibi.zju.edu.cn/POCT/). At same time, we updated the molecular marker data in our PlantscRNAdb database (Release 4.0) based on POCT version 1.0. The databases like Cell Taxonomy, PCMDB, and scPlantDB will also be updated according to POCT in the future. We aim to establish a plant cell type classification system that is recognized by plant scientists worldwide and is user-friendly.
The vision of the POCT Consortium is to complete a comprehensive classification of plant cell types and their key molecular features (across different levels such as transcription, epigenetics, proteins, and metabolism), and to establish a shared cell type database platform. To achieve this vision, the consortium needs to attract researchers from various fields to join and implement a co-construction and sharing mechanism. The consortium will establish several work groups, including the cell type system group (responsible for updating the classification of plant cell types and their molecular features, as well as database maintenance) and the model species group (responsible for the classification of cell types and construction of their molecular features for important species, such as Arabidopsis, rice, maize, soybean, etc.) The consortium will regularly (every 1 or 2 years) release new versions of the POCT and cell type classification for important plant species. A general coordinator and the coordinator for each work group will be selected. The general coordinator will be responsible for the overall work of the consortium, coordinating the work among work groups and the internal communication within the consortium, and releasing new versions of the classification. The coordinator of each work group will be responsible for organizing the work of each group and ensuring the timely completion of new versions of the classification. The general and group coordinators will operate on a rotation system, with regular changes (every 1 or 2 years). The consortium will conduct internal communication on an irregular basis along with the release of the new POCT version, with Molecular Plant Editorial Department responsible for overall organization and coordination. Based on the development of the consortium, professional committees for plant cell type classification will be established in some academic societies. The consortium will actively seek funding from relevant institutions and commercial entities to support academic activities, database maintenance, and other initiatives. Data in the consortium will be fully open and shared (The internal members will first share the new POCT version). To facilitate researchers' use of plant cell type classification and the molecular features, the consortium will actively coordinate relevant cell type databases (such as PlantscRNAdb, PCMDB, scPlantDB, Cell Taxonomy, etc.) to establish an integrated, user-friendly platform for all cell type-related data. Besides, the consortium will coordinate relationships with other relevant consortium (such as the Plant Cell Atlas and the Spatiotemporal Omics Consortium) to establish cooperation for a co-existing and co-win situation.
We sincerely look forward to your participation.
Zhejiang University / Yazhouwan National Laboratory
Longjiang Fan
July 15, 2025
植物细胞类型分类系统国际合作联盟（POCT Consortium）
邀请函
我们提出一个植物细胞类型分类系统（POCT）及其国际合作联盟倡议，特邀请您加入该联盟，参与一起完善POCT。目前我们已提出POCT第1个版本（见论文初稿，拟投稿Molecular Plant）。第1版分类系统仅仅是个起始，还有许多不完善的地方，同时单细胞组学研究结果不断涌现，我们希望未来不断更新POCT。如果你同意加入，我们将把您的名字加入论文中。同时也欢迎您对论文提出修改意见。
我们在建立植物细胞类型标记数据库PlantscRNAdb （Chen et al., 2021）和开展植物单细胞组学研究过程中，深切感受到植物细胞类型定义和分类问题很多，没有统一的标准。所以最近2年我实验室一直试图能建立一个植物类型分类系统，便于大家开展植物细胞生物学研究过程中使用。后来我邀请张章（国家生物信息中心，建立Cell Taxonomy数据库）、曹培健和陈迪俊（分别建立了植物细胞类型数据库PCMDB 和scPlantDB），多次对于我们的分类系统（POCT）进行讨论和修改。最终我们确定了POCT的第1分类系统版本，建立了POCT数据库（www.po-ct.org，一个临时地址http://ibi.zju.edu.cn/POCT/），并基于POCT分类系统更新了我们PlantscRNAdb数据库分子标记数据（Release 4.0）。后续Cell Taxonomy、PCMDB 和scPlantDB数据库都将基于POCT系统进行更新。我们希望建立一个得到世界范围内植物学家认可的且方便使用的POCT分类系统。
POCT联盟的愿景是建立一个完善的植物细胞类型分类及其分子核心特征图谱（转录、表观、蛋白和代谢等不同维度），一个公开共享的细胞类型数据库平台。为了实现这个愿景，联盟需要吸纳各个领域研究者加入，实施共建共享机制。联盟将设立若干工作组，包括细胞类型分析系统组（负责更新植物细胞类型分类系统、分子特征图谱及其共享数据库维护）和重要物种工作组（负责重要模式物种细胞类型分类及其分子核心特征图谱构建。重要物种包括拟南芥、水稻、玉米、大豆等）。联盟将定期（1-2年）发布POCT及其重要植物物种细胞分类版本。联盟将设总协调人和各个工作组协调人，总协调人负责联盟总体工作，协调各工作组工作和联盟内部交流，发布发表分类新版本；工作组协调人负责组织各个工作组工作，按期完成分类新版本。联盟和工作组协调人实施轮流制，定期（1-2年）轮换。联盟将配合分类新版发布，采取不定期方式进行联盟内部交流与讨论，由Mol Plant编辑部进行总体组织协调。根据联盟发展情况，在一些学会设立植物细胞类型分类专业委员会。联盟将积极争取有关机构和商业资助，用于联盟学术活动、数据库维护等。联盟数据将实施完全公开共享（联盟内部单位将首先共享分类系统新版本）。为了便于研究者方便使用植物细胞类型分类及其分子核心特征图谱，联盟将积极组织协调相关细胞类型数据库（如PlantscRNAdb、PCMDB、scPlantDB、Cell Taxonomy等），建立一个整合所有细胞类型数据、界面友好的平台。联盟也将协调其他相关联盟（如PCA和时空组学联盟）的关系，建立特定合作机制，形成一个共存共荣的局面。
期待您的加入与参与！
浙江大学/崖州湾国家实验室
樊龙江
2025年7月15日
Collaborators
More collaborators will be added late, look forward to joining the POCT Consortium to further enrich this foundational resource for plant cell biology.