Structural and genetic analysis of epidermal cell differentiation in Arabidopsis primary roots

Development ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 124 (9) ◽  
pp. 1789-1798 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Schneider ◽  
B. Wells ◽  
L. Dolan ◽  
K. Roberts

In a screen designed to identify genes in the specification of epidermal cell fate in Arabidopsis primary roots we have isolated 8 new mutants that fall into 6 complementation groups corresponding to the ‘root hairless’ genes RHL1, RHL2 and RHL3 and the ‘ectopic root hair’ genes ERH1, ERH2 and ERH3. The erh2 mutant is allelic to pom1, a conditional root expansion mutant, and reveals a possible link between epidermal root hair initiation and radial cell expansion. Apart from erh1 the mutants also show defects in shoot development, indicating a complex role for the affected genes. Mutant phenotypes in the patterning and shape of leaf trichomes in rhl1, rhl2, rhl3 and erh3 were particularly obvious. The root hairless mutants are only partly responsive to increased ethylene concentrations, while the ectopic root hair mutants are fully responsive to reduced concentrations of ethylene, a permissive regulator of root hair initiation. This result and the analysis of double mutants suggest a complex pathway leading to root hair initiation that requires the RHL and ERH genes for correct differentiation.

eLife ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yinwei Cheng ◽  
Wenjiao Zhu ◽  
Yuxiao Chen ◽  
Shinsaku Ito ◽  
Tadao Asami ◽  
...  

In Arabidopsis, root hair and non-hair cell fates are determined by a MYB-bHLH-WD40 transcriptional complex and are regulated by many internal and environmental cues. Brassinosteroids play important roles in regulating root hair specification by unknown mechanisms. Here, we systematically examined root hair phenotypes in brassinosteroid-related mutants, and found that brassinosteroid signaling inhibits root hair formation through GSK3-like kinases or upstream components. We found that with enhanced brassinosteroid signaling, GL2, a cell fate marker for non-hair cells, is ectopically expressed in hair cells, while its expression in non-hair cells is suppressed when brassinosteroid signaling is reduced. Genetic analysis demonstrated that brassinosteroid-regulated root epidermal cell patterning is dependent on the WER-GL3/EGL3-TTG1 transcriptional complex. One of the GSK3-like kinases, BIN2, interacted with and phosphorylated EGL3, and EGL3s mutated at phosphorylation sites were retained in hair cell nuclei. BIN2 phosphorylated TTG1 to inhibit the activity of the WER-GL3/EGL3-TTG1 complex. Thus, our study provides insights into the mechanism of brassinosteroid regulation of root hair patterning.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iva McCarthy-Suarez

In spite of the known role of gibberellins (GAs), and of their antagonistic proteins, the DELLAs, in leaf hair production, no investigations, however, have assessed their hypothetical function in the production of root hairs. To this aim, the effects of supra-physiological levels of GAs/DELLAs on the spatial patterning of gene expression of the root hair (CPC) and root non-hair (GL2, EGL3 and WER) epidermal cell fate markers, as well as on the distribution, morphology and abundance of root hairs, were studied in root tips of 5-day-old A. thaliana seedlings. Results showed that excessive levels of GAs/DELLAs impaired the spatial patterning of gene expression of the root hair/non-hair epidermal cell fate markers, as well as the arrangement, shape and frequency of root hairs, giving rise to ectopic hairs and ectopic non-hairs, two-haired cells, two-tipped hairs, branched hairs, longer and denser hairs near the root tip under excessive DELLAs, and shorter and scarcer hairs near the root tip under excessive GAs. However, when the gai-1 (GA-insensitive-1) DELLA mutant protein was specifically over-expressed at the root epidermis, no changes in the patterning or abundance of root hairs occurred. Thus, these results suggest that, in seedlings of A. thaliana, the GAs/DELLAs might have a role in regulating the patterning, morphology and abundance of root hairs by acting from the sub-epidermal tissues of the root.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (20) ◽  
pp. 4997 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siyu Chen ◽  
Shucai Wang

Epidermal cell fate determination—including trichome initiation, root hair formation, and flavonoid and mucilage biosynthesis in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana)—are controlled by a similar transcriptional regulatory network. In the network, it has been proposed that the MYB-bHLH-WD40 (MBW) activator complexes formed by an R2R3 MYB transcription factor, a bHLH transcription factor and the WD40-repeat protein TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA1 (TTG1) regulate the expression of downstream genes required for cell fate determination, flavonoid or mucilage biosynthesis, respectively. In epidermal cell fate determination and mucilage biosynthesis, the MBW activator complexes activate the expression of GLABRA2 (GL2). GL2 is a homeodomain transcription factor that promotes trichome initiation in shoots, mucilage biosynthesis in seeds, and inhibits root hair formation in roots. The MBW activator complexes also activate several R3 MYB genes. The R3 MYB proteins, in turn, competing with the R2R3 MYBs for binding bHLH transcription factors, therefore inhibiting the formation of the MBW activator complexes, lead to the inhibition of trichome initiation in shoots, and promotion of root hair formation in roots. In flavonoid biosynthesis, the MBW activator complexes activate the expression of the late biosynthesis genes in the flavonoid pathway, resulting in the production of anthocyanins or proanthocyanidins. Research progress in recent years suggests that the transcriptional regulatory network that controls epidermal cell fate determination and anthocyanin biosynthesis in Arabidopsis is far more complicated than previously thought. In particular, more regulators of GL2 have been identified, and GL2 has been shown to be involved in the regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis. This review focuses on the research progress on the regulation of GL2 expression, and the roles of GL2 in the regulation of epidermal cell fate determination and anthocyanin biosynthesis in Arabidopsis.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 2615
Author(s):  
Jin Hoon Jang ◽  
Hae Seong Seo ◽  
Ok Ran Lee

There are three subfamilies of patatin-related phospholipase A (pPLA) group of genes: pPLAI, pPLAII, and pPLAIII. Among the four members of pPLAIIIs (α, β, γ, δ), the overexpression of three isoforms (α, β, and δ) displayed distinct morphological growth patterns, in which the anisotropic cell expansion was disrupted. Here, the least studied pPLAIIIγ was characterized, and it was found that the overexpression of pPLAIIIγ in Arabidopsis resulted in longitudinally reduced cell expansion patterns, which are consistent with the general phenotype induced by pPLAIIIs overexpression. The microtubule-associated protein MAP18 was found to be enriched in a pPLAIIIδ overexpressing line in a previous study. This indicates that factors, such as microtubules and ethylene biosynthesis, are involved in determining the radial cell expansion patterns. Microtubules have long been recognized to possess functional key roles in the processes of plant cells, including cell division, growth, and development, whereas ethylene treatment was reported to induce the reorientation of microtubules. Thus, the possible links between the altered anisotropic cell expansion and microtubules were studied. Our analysis revealed changes in the transcriptional levels of microtubule-associated genes, as well as phospholipase D (PLD) genes, upon the overexpression of pPLAIIIγ. Overall, our results suggest that the longitudinally reduced cell expansion observed in pPLAIIIγ overexpression is driven by microtubules via transcriptional modulation of the PLD and MAP genes. The altered transcripts of the genes involved in ethylene-biosynthesis in pPLAIIIγOE further support the conclusion that the typical phenotype is derived from the link with microtubules.


Development ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 129 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Webb ◽  
Stefan Jouannic ◽  
Julia Foreman ◽  
Paul Linstead ◽  
Liam Dolan

The Arabidopsis root is composed of radial cell layers, each with distinct identities. The epidermal layer is composed of rows of hair cells flanked on either side by rows of non-hair epidermal cells. The development of hair and non-hair cells is dependent on domains of positional information with strict boundaries. The pattern of cell differentiation and the expression of molecular markers of cell fate is altered in the ectopic root hair 3 (erh3) mutant epidermis indicating that ERH3 is required for the specification of cell fates from early in development (in the meristem) through differentiation. Furthermore the expression of molecular markers indicates that the specification of cell identities is defective within other radial cell layers. ERH3 encodes a p60 katanin protein that is expressed throughout the plant. Katanin proteins are known to sever microtubules, and have a role in the organisation of the plant cell wall since mutants with decreased katanin activity have been shown to have defective walls. We suggest that microtubules are involved in the specification of cell identities in cells of the Arabidopsis root. Microtubules may be required for the localization of positional cues in the wall that have previously been shown to operate in the development of the root epidermis. Alternatively microtubules may be involved in another as yet undefined process required for the specification of cell identity in plants.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Retzer ◽  
Wolfram Weckwerth

Plant growth and productivity are orchestrated by a network of signaling cascades involved in balancing responses to perceived environmental changes with resource availability. Vascular plants are divided into the shoot, an aboveground organ where sugar is synthesized, and the underground located root. Continuous growth requires the generation of energy in the form of carbohydrates in the leaves upon photosynthesis and uptake of nutrients and water through root hairs. Root hair outgrowth depends on the overall condition of the plant and its energy level must be high enough to maintain root growth. TARGET OF RAPAMYCIN (TOR)-mediated signaling cascades serve as a hub to evaluate which resources are needed to respond to external stimuli and which are available to maintain proper plant adaptation. Root hair growth further requires appropriate distribution of the phytohormone auxin, which primes root hair cell fate and triggers root hair elongation. Auxin is transported in an active, directed manner by a plasma membrane located carrier. The auxin efflux carrier PIN-FORMED 2 is necessary to transport auxin to root hair cells, followed by subcellular rearrangements involved in root hair outgrowth. This review presents an overview of events upstream and downstream of PIN2 action, which are involved in root hair growth control.


Biologia ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Mikolajová ◽  
Halina Vargová ◽  
Zora Hanáčková ◽  
Milada Čiamporová

AbstractUltrastructure was investigated along the files of developing epidermal cells in the root tip of a model plant Medicago sativa, in which all rhizodermal cells are potential hair-forming trichoblasts. Differentiation at subcellular level was observed up to the stage of bulge initiation in the trichoblasts. Root hair initiation indicated by the emergence of bulges from trichoblasts was detected at various distances from the root tip and, it was independent of the trichoblast size.During rhizodermal cell differentiation, starch grains accumulated in the plastids. Nuclei located in the central part of the young, meristematic cells moved towards the inner periclinal wall as the central vacuole enlarged. The bulging region of the trichoblasts located opposite the nucleus and was rich in mitochondria, ER, ribosomes, and Golgi bodies, and contained also vesicles enclosing fibrillar material. This material responded positively to phosphotungstic acid, which was used for detection of cell wall polysaccharides. The cell wall thickness within the bulging domain was significantly lower than in other parts of trichoblasts. We suggest that internalization of cell wall polysaccharides occurs within the bulging area, contributing to local thinning of the cell wall and providing a source of osmotically active compounds for maintaining turgor in the trichoblast. Thus, the internalization process might be necessary for root hair outgrowth.


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