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Many plant species display remarkable developmental plasticity and regenerate new organs after injury. Local signals produced by wounding are thought to trigger organ regeneration but molecular mechanisms underlying this control remain largely unknown^1,2. We have previously identified a group of AP2/ERF transcription factors named WOUND INDUCED DEDIFFERENTIATION1-4 (WIND1-4) as central regulators of wound-induced cellular reprogramming in plants³. More recently we demonstrated that WIND1 promotes shoot regeneration by directly up-regulating ENHANCER OF SHOOT REGENERATION1 (ESR1) encoding another AP2/ERF transcription factor in Arabidopsis⁴. We have also shown that some of WIND genes and other developmental regulators need to be epigenetically repressed by POLYCOMB REPRESSIVE COMPLEX 2 to prevent unscheduled cellular reprogramming in intact plants^5,6. In this talk I will discuss our latest findings on how WIND proteins promote cellular reprogramming and how wound stress activates the WIND-mediated pathway by overriding epigenetic repression. [mehr]