Root hair development in Arabidopsis thaliana: a confocal microscopy study

Root hair formation in Arabidopsis provides a model to study the pattern formation and cell fate specification in plants. The epidermal cell layer of the Arabidopsis root comprises hair-bearing (trichoblast) and hairless (atrichoblast) cells in files along the main axis. Epidermal cell fate is correlated with cell position, with root hair cells located over radial walls between cortical cells, and with hairless cells located directly over cortical cells. The regulation of such a position related differentiation is unknown. The fate of the epidermal cells is partly dependent on the cell lineage; however, intercellular interactions, e.g. between cortical cells, potentially also play a role in root hair morphogenesis.