Leaf trichome distribution pattern in Arabidopsis reveals gene expression variation associated with environmental adaptation

Abstract Gene expression varies stochastically even in both heterogenous and homogeneous cell populations. This variation is not simply useless noise; rather, it is important for many biological processes. Unicellular organisms or cultured cell lines are useful for analyzing the variation in gene expression between cells; however, owing to technical challenges, the biological relevance of this variation in multicellular organisms such as higher plants remains unclear. Here, we addressed the biological relevance of this variation between cells by examining the genetic basis of trichome distribution patterns in Arabidopsis thaliana. The distribution pattern of a trichome on a leaf is stochastic and can be mathematically represented using Turing’s reaction-diffusion (RD) model. We analyzed simulations based on the RD model and found that the variability in the trichome distribution pattern increased with the increase in stochastic variation in a particular gene expression. Moreover, differences in heat-dependent variability of the trichome distribution pattern between the accessions showed a strong correlation with environmental factors to which each accession was adapted. Taken together, we successfully visualized variations in gene expression by quantifying the variability in the Arabidopsis trichome distribution pattern. Thus, our data provide evidence for the biological importance of variations in gene expression for environmental adaptation.