TRIPTYCHON, not CAPRICE, participates in feedback regulation of SCM expression in the Arabidopsis root epidermis

The Arabidopsis root epidermal cells decide their fates (root-hair cell and non-hair cell) according to their position. SCRAMBLED (SCM), an atypical leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase (LRR RLK) mediates the positional information to the epidermal cells enabling them to adopt the proper fate. Via feedback regulation, the SCM protein accumulates preferentially in cells adopting the root-hair cell fate. In this study, we determine that TRY, but not the related factor CPC, is responsible for this preferential SCM accumulation. We observed severe reduction of SCM::GUS expression in the try-82 mutant root, but not in the cpc-1 mutant. Furthermore, the overexpression of TRY by CaMV35S promoter caused an increase in the expression of SCM::GUS in the root epidermis. Intriguingly, the overexpression of CPC by CaMV35S promoter repressed the expression of SCM::GUS. Together, these results suggest that TRY plays a unique role in generating the appropriate spatial expression of SCM.