Glabrous Inflorescence Stems3 Binds to and Activates RHD2 and RHD4 Genes to Promote Root Hair Elongation in Arabidopsis
September 2023
in “
Plant journal
”
TLDR A protein called GIS3 is important for the growth of root hairs in Arabidopsis by controlling two genes with the help of certain growth signals.
The study reveals that a zinc finger protein, GIS3, plays a significant role in root hair growth in Arabidopsis plants. The absence of GIS3 resulted in a notable decrease in root hairs compared to the wild type. However, the application of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC), an exogenous ethylene precursor, and 6-benzyl amino purine (BA), a synthetic cytokinin, significantly restored the percentage of hair cells in the GIS3-deficient plants and induced GIS3 expression in the wild type. Further molecular and genetic studies showed that GIS3 operates upstream of ROOT HAIR DEFECTIVE 2 (RHD2) and RHD4 by binding to their promoters. The application of ACC and BA significantly induced the expression of RHD2 and RHD4. The study concludes that GIS3 influences root hair development by directly regulating RHD2 and RHD4 expression through ethylene and cytokinin signals in Arabidopsis.