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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Imaging the Root Hair Morphology of Arabidopsis Seedlings in a Two-layer Microfluidic Platform
Published on: August 15, 2017
[The mechanism of root hair development and molecular regulation in plants]
Yue-Ping Wang1, Ying-Hui Li, Rong-Xia Guan
1State Key Laboratory for Tropical Crop Biotechnology, Institute of Tropical Bioscience and Biotechnology Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Haikou 571101, China. wang_acle@hotmail.com
Abstract:
The formation of the root epidermis in Arabidopsis thaliana provides a simple model to study mechanisms underlying patterning in plants. Root hair increases the root surface area and effectively increases the root diameter, so root hair is thought to aid plants in nutrient uptake, anchorage and microbe interactions. The determination of root hair development has two types, lateral inhibition with feedback and position-dependent pattern of cell differentiation. The initiation and development of root hair in Arabidopsis provide a simple and efficacious model for the study of cell fate determination in plants. Molecular genetic studies identify a suite of putative transcription factors which regulate the epidermal cell pattern. The homeodomain protein GLABRA2 (GL2), R2R3 MYB-type transcription factor WEREWOLF (WER) and WD-repeat protein TRANSPARENTT TESTA GLABRA (TTG) are required for specification of non-hair cell type. The CAPRICE (CPC) and TRYPTICHON (TRY) are involved in specifying the hair cell fate.
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