Phospholipid Signaling in Plant Development

Cellular morphogenesis is particularly important in plant development, because these cells do not migrate but remain where they are formed. The highly patterned formation of root hairs from some (but not all) epidermal cells of the growing root in Arabidopsis offers an opportunity to study tissue patterning as well as cellular morphogenesis. Ohashi et al. searched for the genes downstream of the group of transcription factors that regulate whether a root hair develops. Beginning with GLABRA2, the furthest downstream of the transcription factors, the authors identified a phospholipase D gene as its direct target. Experimental alterations of the phospholipase D gene expression indicate that phospholipid signaling contributes to cellular morphogenic choices. Y. Ohashi, A. Oka, R. Rodrigues-Pousada, M. Possenti, I. Ruberti, G. Morelli, T. Aoyama, Modulation of phospholipid signaling by GLABRA2 in root-hair pattern formation. Science 300, 1427-1430 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]