Root hair specific transcriptome analysis of gain-of-function and loss-of-function of GTL1 and DF1

How plants determine the final size of growing cells is an important, yet unanswered question. Root hairs provide an excellent model system to study this question since their final cell size is remarkably constant under given environmental conditions. In this study we demonstrate that a trihelix transcription factor GT-2-LIKE1 (GTL1) and its homolog DF1 repress root hair growth in Arabidopsis. Our transcriptional data, combined with genome-wide chromatin binding data, show that GTL1 and DF1 directly bind the RSL4 promoter and regulate its expression to repress root hair growth. Our data further show that GTL1 and RSL4 regulate each other as well as a set of common downstream genes, many of which have previously been implicated in root hair growth. This study therefore uncovers a core regulatory module that fine-tunes the extent of root hair growth by orchestrated actions of opposing transcription factors.

18

Shibata M, Breuer C, Kawamura A, Clark NM, Rymen B, Braidwood L, Morohashi K, Busch W, Benfey PN, Sozzani R, Sugimoto K