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A basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor controls cell growth and size in root hairs

Nature Genetics volume 42, pages 264–267 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Postmitotic cell growth defines cell shape and size during development. However, the mechanisms regulating postmitotic cell growth in plants remain unknown. Here we report the discovery of a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor called RSL4 (ROOT HAIR DEFECTIVE 6-LIKE 4) that is sufficient to promote postmitotic cell growth in Arabidopsis thaliana root-hair cells. Loss of RSL4 function resulted in the development of very short root hairs. In contrast, constitutive RSL4 expression programmed constitutive growth, resulting in the formation of very long root hairs. Hair-cell growth signals, such as auxin and low phosphate availability, modulate hair cell extension by regulating RSL4 transcript and protein levels. RSL4 is thus a regulator of growth that integrates endogenous developmental and exogenous environmental signals that together control postmitotic growth in root hairs. The control of postmitotic growth by transcription factors may represent a general mechanism for regulating cell size across diverse organisms.

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Figure 1: RSL4 is an immediate target of RHD6.
Figure 2: RSL4 is expressed in root-hair cells and regulates hair growth.
Figure 3: Constitutive RSL4 expression leads to constitutive postmitotic growth of root-hair cells.
Figure 4: Auxin modulates RSL4 expression to control hair cell growth.

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Acknowledgements

L.D. was funded by a grant in aid from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council to John Innes Centre and Oxford University. L.D., E.B. and K.Y. were funded by a grant from Human Frontiers in Science (RGP0012/2005-C). B.M. was funded by the EU-Marie Curie Program and a Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) responsive mode grant NE/C510732/1 to L.D. K.Y. was partially supported by a Joint Scholarship between the University of East Anglia and China Scholarship Council. We gratefully thank the Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre for providing T-DNA insertion and RNAi lines. We are also grateful to Y. Tao for the help with microarray analysis and H. Hu for the statistical analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, John Innes Centre, Norwich, United Kingdom

    Keke Yi, Benoît Menand, Elizabeth Bell & Liam Dolan

  2. State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Life Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Keke Yi

  3. Laboratoire de Génétique et Biophysique des Plantes, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA), Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France

    Benoît Menand

  4. Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

    Liam Dolan

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Contributions

K.Y. carried out all experiments except for the identification of genes that act downstream of RSL4, which was carried out by E.B. L.D. and K.Y. wrote the paper with the assistance of B.M. and E.B. K.Y., B.M. and L.D. planned the experiments. L.D. supervised and initiated the study.

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Correspondence to Liam Dolan.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Yi, K., Menand, B., Bell, E. et al. A basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor controls cell growth and size in root hairs. Nat Genet 42, 264–267 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.529

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