PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Michaël Moison
AU  - Javier Martínez Pacheco
AU  - Leandro Lucero
AU  - Camille Fonouni-Farde
AU  - Johan Rodríguez-Melo
AU  - Aurélie Christ
AU  - Jérémie Bazin
AU  - Moussa Benhamed
AU  - Fernando Ibañez
AU  - Martin Crespi
AU  - José M. Estevez
AU  - Federico Ariel
TI  - The IncRNA <em>APOLO</em> interacts with the transcription factor WRKY42 to trigger root hair cell expansion in response to cold
AID  - 10.1101/2020.07.13.188763
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.07.13.188763
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/07/14/2020.07.13.188763.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/07/14/2020.07.13.188763.full
AB  - Plant long noncoding RNAs (IncRNAs) have emerged as important regulators of chromatin dynamics, impacting on transcriptional programs leading to different developmental outputs. The lncRNA AUXIN REGULATED PROMOTER LOOP (APOLO) directly recognizes multiple independent loci across the Arabidopsis genome and modulates their three-dimensional chromatin conformation, leading to transcriptional shifts. Here, we show that APOLO recognizes the locus encoding the root hair (RH) master regulator ROOT HAIR DEFECTIVE 6 (RHD6) and controls RHD6 transcriptional activity leading to cold-enhanced RH elongation, in association with the Polycomb Repressive Complexes (PRC) 1 and 2. Additionally, we demonstrate that APOLO interacts with the transcription factor WRKY42 and modulates its binding to the RHD6 promoter. WRKY42 is required for the activation of RHD6 by low temperatures and WRKY42 deregulation impairs cold-induced RH expansion. Collectively, our results indicate that a novel ribonucleoprotein complex involving APOLO and WRKY42 forms a regulatory hub which activates RHD6 by shaping its epigenetic environment and integrates different signals governing RH growth and development.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.