The hairy structures on plants, which are called by the anatomical term trichomes, can take different forms and functions. Trichomes on stems can be prickly deterrents that guard plants against herbivores while they can also serve to insulate against water loss when carpeting leaves as a dense hairy cover. Recent findings reported in Nature Plants associate trichomes with an entirely new role as well. Trichomes on flower petals appear to help keep flower buds in shape until the flowers fully bloom. The authors vividly illustrate the tight ‘velcro’ like way that trichomes on the surfaces of adjacent petals intertwine to maintain the contour of developing bud. To validate this function of petal trichomes, the authors develop ‘trichome-less’ flower buds in cotton by RNAi-mediated silencing of the gene GhMYBML10 –a factor known to promote trichome growth. The trichome-less buds developed in a highly irregular wrinkly and twisty form, thus revealing that petal trichomes are necessary to hold flower buds in shape. This work turns our attention towards examining how multiple organs establish anatomical connections that together developmentally coordinate changes in plant growth and form in ways that eventually promote successful reproduction.
--Srinidhi Holalu