Communication is key: Reducing DEK1 activity reveals a link between cell-cell contacts and epidermal cell differentiation status

Plant epidermis development requires not only the initial acquisition of tissue identity, but also the ability to differentiate specific cell types over time and to maintain these differentiated states throughout the plant life. To set-up and maintain differentiation, plants activate specific transcriptional programs. Interfering with these programs can prevent differentiation and/or force differentiated cells to lose their identity and re-enter a proliferative state. We have recently shown that the Arabidopsis Defective Kernel 1 (DEK1) protein is required both for the differentiation of epidermal cells and for the maintenance of their fully differentiated state. Defects in DEK1 activity lead to a deregulation of the expression of epidermis-specific differentiation–promoting HD-ZIP IV transcription factors. Here we propose a working model in which DEK1, by maintaining cell-cell contacts, and thus communication between neighboring cells, influences HD-ZIP IV gene expression and epidermis differentiation.