2. Academic Validation
  3. A HD-ZIP transcription factor specifies fates of multicellular trichomes via dosage-dependent mechanisms in tomato

A HD-ZIP transcription factor specifies fates of multicellular trichomes via dosage-dependent mechanisms in tomato

  • Dev Cell. 2023 Feb 15;S1534-5807(23)00041-2. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2023.01.009.
Minliang Wu 1,  Jiang Chang 1,  Xiaoqian Han 1,  Jingyuan Shen 1,  Liling Yang 1,  Shourong Hu 1,  Ben-Ben Huang 1,  Huimin Xu 1,  Mengyuan Xu 1,  Shurong Wu 1,  Pengxue Li 1,  Bin Hua 1,  Meina Yang 1,  Zhenbiao Yang 2,  Shuang Wu 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 College of Horticulture, FAFU-UCR Joint Center for Horticultural Biology and Metabolomics, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.
  • 2 Institute of Integrative Genome Biology and Department of Botany and Plant Science, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA.
  • 3 College of Horticulture, FAFU-UCR Joint Center for Horticultural Biology and Metabolomics, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China. Electronic address: wus@fafu.edu.cn.
PMID: 36801006 DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2023.01.009
Abstract

Hair-like structures are shared by most living organisms. The hairs on plant surfaces, commonly referred to as trichomes, form diverse types to sense and protect against various stresses. However, it is unclear how trichomes differentiate into highly variable forms. Here, we show that a homeodomain leucine zipper (HD-ZIP) transcription factor named Woolly controls the fates of distinct trichomes in tomato via a dosage-dependent mechanism. The autocatalytic reinforcement of Woolly is counteracted by an autoregulatory negative feedback loop, creating a circuit with a high or low Woolly level. This biases the transcriptional activation of separate antagonistic cascades that lead to different trichome types. Our results identify the developmental switch of trichome formation and provide mechanistic insights into the progressive fate specification in Plants, as well as a path to enhancing plant stress resistance and the production of beneficial chemicals.

Keywords

HD-ZIP transcription factor; LEAFLESS; MTR1; cell fate determination; cell lineage; digitate trichome; dosage-dependent regulation; glandular trichome; peltate trichome; woolly.

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