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Trichome patterning control involves TTG1 interaction with SPL transcription factors

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Abstract

Epidermal cell differentiation is a paramount and conserved process among plants. In Arabidopsis, a ternary complex formed by MYB, bHLH transcription factors and TTG1 modulates unicellular trichome morphogenesis. The formation of multicellular glandular trichomes of the xerophytic shrub Cistus creticus that accumulate labdane-type diterpenes, has attained much attention renowned for its medicinal properties. Here, we show that C. creticus TTG1 (CcTTG1) interacts with the SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE (SPLA/B) proteins, putative homologs of AtSPL4/5 that in turn interact with AtTTG1. These interactions occur between proteins from evolutionarily distant species supporting the conserved function of TTG1-SPL complex. Overexpression of AtSPL4 and AtSPL5 decreased the expression of GLABRA2 (AtGL2), the major regulator of trichome morphogenesis, resulting in trichome reduction on the adaxial surface of cauline leaves, thereby illuminating the significance of TTG1-SPLs interactions in trichome formation control. AtGL2 and AtSPL4 have opposite expression patterns during early stages of leaf development. We postulate an antagonistic effect between SPLs and the heterogeneous MYB-bHLH factors binding to TTG1. Hence, the SPLs potentially rearrange the complex, attenuating its transcriptional activity to control trichome distribution.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by PENED 2001-01ED416 and GSRT 09SYN-879 (SysTerp) grants. Results presented in this article were part of EI doctoral thesis. G.D., A.A. and D.T. are indebted for funding to IKY fellowships of excellence for postgraduate studies in Greece-Siemens program.

Author contributions

S.R., S.P., P.H., and A.K.K. conceived and designed the experiments. E.I., D.T., G.D., A.M., G.T., A.A., A.A. and D.A. performed the experiments. D.T., G.D., and S.R. analyzed the data. S.R., P.H., and A.K.K. prepared the manuscript with editing from all authors. P.H., and A.K.K. funding acquisition.

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  1. Georgia Tanou

    Present address: Department of Agricultural Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24, Thessaloniki, Greece

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Group of Biotechnology of Pharmaceutical Plants, Laboratory of Pharmacognosy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Eugenia Ioannidi, Georgia Tanou, Dimitrios Alexandrou & Angelos K. Kanellis

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, 118 55, Athens, Greece

    Stamatis Rigas, Dikran Tsitsekian, Gerasimos Daras, Anastasios Alatzas & Polydefkis Hatzopoulos

  3. Institute of Applied Biosciences, CERTH, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Antonis Makris & Anagnostis Argiriou

  4. Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6313, USA

    Scott Poethig

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  1. Eugenia Ioannidi
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Eugenia Ioannidi and Stamatis Rigas have contributed equally to this work.

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Ioannidi, E., Rigas, S., Tsitsekian, D. et al. Trichome patterning control involves TTG1 interaction with SPL transcription factors. Plant Mol Biol 92, 675–687 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-016-0538-8

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