Genetic Control of Glandular Trichome Development

Plant glandular trichomes are epidermal secretory structures producing various specialized metabolites. These metabolites are involved in plant adaptation to its environment and many of them have remarkable properties exploited by fragrance, flavor, and pharmaceutical industries. The identification of genes controlling glandular trichome development is of high interest to understand how plants produce specialized metabolites. Our knowledge about this developmental process is still limited, but genes controlling glandular trichome initiation and morphogenesis have recently been identified. In particular, R2R3-MYB and HD-ZIP IV transcription factors appear to play essential roles in glandular trichome initiation in Artemisia annua and tomato. In this review, we focus on the results obtained in these two species and we propose genetic regulation models integrating these data.