Histone Deacetylase HDA19 Affects Root Cortical Cell Fate by Interacting with SCARECROW

Abstract

The Arabidopsis (<i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>) root epidermis is a simple model for investigating cell fate specification and pattern formation. In addition to regulatory networks consisting of transcription factors, histone deacetylases are also involved in the formation of cellular patterns. Here, we report thatHistone Deacetylase19 (HDA19) affects the root epidermal cellular pattern through regulation of cortical cell fate by interacting with SCARECROW (SCR). HDA19 binds to the DNA sequence upstream of <i>SCR</i>, as well as to those of several of SCR's target genes, and regulates their expression. Mutant lines of several SCR target genes show impaired patterns of epidermal differentiation and cortical cell division, similar to that of <i>hda19</i> This work presents HDA19 and SCR as two further players in the regulation of cortical and epidermal cell specification and describes an additional function for SCR.