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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Long-term, High-resolution Confocal Time Lapse Imaging of Arabidopsis Cotyledon Epidermis during Germination
Published on: December 31, 2012
Patterning of Arabidopsis epidermal cells: epigenetic factors regulate the complex epidermal cell fate pathway
Sonia Guimil1, Christophe Dunand
1Laboratory of Plant Physiology, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest-Ansermet 30, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Cell fate determination in the Arabidopsis epidermis has been extensively studied for over a decade. Epidermal cells become either trichoblasts (hair-forming cells) or atrichoblasts (non-hair-forming cells). In Arabidopsis, two types of trichoblasts are formed in defined patterns: trichomes and root hairs. Both cell types are specified through the action of a common set of transcriptional regulators that define cell pattern. Recent studies also characterize epigenetic factors in the determination of cell fate in the root, suggesting a default pattern for epidermal cell fate that can be overridden by environmental stimuli. These results reveal how plant cell developmental plasticity is controlled at the molecular level.
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