AtGATA12 directly activates the master regulator of secondary cell all formation

The secondary cell wall is composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, and some of the genetic pathways responsible for their synthesis have been elucidated. In the secondary cell wall biosynthesis pathway, there are downstream genes that can synthesize each component, hub genes that can regulate these genes, and master regulators that control genes at the top of the pathway. AtGATA12, a member of the GATA family, is a gene that is highly expressed in plant stems, but its role has not been clearly studied. In this study, we confirmed that the role of AtGATA12 in the plant secondary cell wall biosynthesis pathway involves the regulation of master regulators. AtGATA12 functions as a transcription factor in Arabidopsis, regulating the expression of secondary cell wall genes and directly controlling master regulators such as ANAC012, NST1, and VND7. Additionally, the secondary cell wall of the interfascicular fiber in the Arabidopsis stem was thickened. Therefore, we demonstrated that AtGATA12 has the ability to regulate secondary cell wall biosynthesis in Arabidopsis and can directly control several master regulators.