Abstract
CAPRICE (CPC) encodes a small protein with R3 MYB motif and regulates epidermal cell differentiation in Arabidopsis. We identified three CPC-like genes (CPL-1, 2, and -3) in the Arabidopsis genome. Overexpressers of these three genes showed a reduction of the number of trichomes and an increase in the number of root hairs, which is similar to the effect of 35S::CPC. Analyses of promoter-GUS and in situ hybridization indicated that CPL2 and CPL3 were preferentially expressed in stomata guard cells, whereas CPL1 was expressed in trichomes and root epidermal cells.
WERWOLF (WER) encodes R2-R3 type Myb protein, repressing the root-hair formation. To understand the difference between activation and repression by Myb transcription factors in plants, we made the chimera construct of CPC and WER and transformed then into wer-1 or cpc-2. The results showed CPC R3 and WER R3 motifs were not interchangeable with each other.
