The novel transcription factor TRP interacts with ZFP5, a trichome initiation-related transcription factor, and negatively regulates trichome initiation through gibberellic acid signaling

Key message: The trichome-related protein (TRP) is a novel transcription factor (TF) that negatively regulates trichome initiation-related TFs through gibberellin (GA) signaling. Abstract: Trichomes, which are outgrowths of leaf epidermal cells, provide the plant with a first line of defense against damage from herbivores and reduce transpiration. The initiation and development of trichomes are regulated by a network of positively or negatively regulating transcription factors (TFs). However, little information is currently available on transcriptional regulation related to trichome formation. Here, we report a novel TF Trichome-Related Protein (TRP) that was observed to negatively regulate the trichome initiation-related TFs through gibberellic acid (GA) signaling. ProTRP:GUS revealed that TRP was only expressed in the trichome. The TRP loss-of-function mutant (trp) had an increased number of trichomes on the flower, cauline leaves, and main inflorescence stems compared to the wild-type. In contrast, TRP overexpression lines (TRP-Ox) exhibited a decreased number of trichomes on cauline leaves and main inflorescence stem following treatment with exogenous GA. Moreover, the expressions of trichome initiation regulators (GIS, GIS2, ZFP8, GL1, and GL3) increased in trp plants but decreased in TRP-Ox lines after GA treatment. TRP was observed to physically interact with ZFP5, a C2H2 TF that controls trichome cell development through GA signaling, both in vivo and in vitro. Based on these results, we suggest that TRP functions upstream of the trichome initiation regulators and represses the binding of ZFP5 to the ZFP8 promoter.