A4icro-trichome as a class I homeodomain-leucine zipper gene regulates multicellular trichome development in Cucumis sativus

• Published in: 植物学报：英文版 no. 11; pp. 925 - 935
• Main Author: Jun-Long Zhao Jun-Song Pan Yuan Guan Wei-Wei Zhang Bei-Bei Bie Yun-Li Wang Huan-Le He Hong-Li Lian Run Cai
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: 亮氨酸拉链; 发育不良; 同源结构域; 基因调节; 多细胞; 植物体; 腺毛; 黄瓜
• ISSN: 1672-9072; 1744-7909

Plant trichomes serve as a highly suitable model for investigating cell differentiation at the single-cell level. The regulatory genes involved in unicellular trichome develop- ment in Arabidopsis thaliana have been intensively studied, but genes regulating multicellular trichome development in plants remain unclear. Here, we characterized Cucumis sativus （cucumber） trichomes as representative multicellular and unbranched structures, and identified Micro-trichome （Mict）, using map-based cloning in an F2 segregating population of 7,936 individuals generated from a spontaneous mict mutant. In mitt plants, trichomes in both leaves and fruits, are small, poorly developed, and denser than in the wild type. Sequence analysis revealed that a 2,649-bp genomic deletion, spanning the first and second exons, occurred in a plant-specific class I homeodomain-leucine zipper gene. Tissue-specific expression analysis indicated that Mict is strongly expressed in the trichome cells. Transcriptome profiling identified potential targets of Mict including putative homologs of genes known in other systems to regulate trichome development, meristem determinacy, and hormone responsiveness. Phylo- genic analysis charted the relationships among putative homologs in angiosperms. Our paper represents initial steps toward understanding the development of multicellular trichomes.