Control of root hair development in Arabidopsis thaliana by an endoplasmic reticulum anchored member of the R2R3-MYB transcription factor family

The evolution of roots and root hairs was a crucial innovation that contributed to the adaptation of plants to a terrestrial environment. Initiation of root hairs involves transcriptional cues that in part determine cell patterning of the root epidermis. Once root hair initiation has occurred, elongation of the root hair takes place. Although many genes have been identified as being involved in root hair development, many contributors remain uncharacterized. In this study we report on the involvement of a member (here dubbed maMYB) of the plant-specific R2R3-MYB family of transcription factors in root hair elongation in Arabidopsis. We show that maMYB is associated with the endoplasmic reticulum membrane with the transcription factor domain exposed to the cytosol, suggesting that it may function as a membrane-tethered transcription factor. We demonstrate that a truncated form of maMYB (maMYB(84-309)), which contains the R2R3-MYB transcription factor domain, is localized and retained in the nucleus, where it regulates gene expression. Silencing of maMyb resulted in plants with significantly shorter root hairs but similar root hair density compared with wild type, implying a role of the protein in root hair elongation. 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid), an exogenous auxin analog that promotes root hair elongation, rescued the short root hair phenotype and maMyb mRNA was induced in the presence of 2,4-D and IAA (indole-3-acetic acid). These results indicate a functional role of maMYB, which is integrated with auxin, in root hair elongation in Arabidopsis.