An experimentally tractable system for investigating cell-fate determination in plants is the specification of the predictable pattern of hair and non-hair cells seen in the Arabidopsis root epidermis. Several putative transcriptional regulators have been implicated in this process and, on , Bernhardt et al. report that two Arabidopsis genes encoding basic helix-loop-helix proteins - GLABRA3 (GL3) and ENHANCER OF GLABRA3 (EGL3) - act in a partly redundant manner during the specification of root epidermal cells. No non-hair cells were formed in plants carrying homozygous null mutations in both genes. Conversely, overexpression of either gene produced ectopic non-hair cells. Other results indicate that GL3/EGL3 also influence hair cell specification,leading the researchers to propose a model in which interactions between GL3/EGL3 and the MYB proteins WEREWOLF and CAPRICE mediate cell-fate decision during the development of the root epidermis.
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December 2003
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