Transcriptomic and functional analyses uncover the regulatory role of lncRNA000170 in tomato multicellular trichome formation

Trichomes are universal specific structures originating from nearly all terrestrial plants. Although quantities of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified in many plant species, the role of lncRNAs in trichome formation still remains unknown. Here, we identified a total of 1303 lncRNAs in the young stems of woolly mutant LA3560 (Wo) and its non-woolly segregants (WT). Out of these lncRNAs, 86 lncRNAs were obviously upregulated in Wo and 110 lncRNAs were downregulated. We determined that seven lncRNAs were highly expressed in stem trichomes compared to trichome-free stems and several other tissues of LA3560 by a quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, including lncRNA000746, lncRNA000170, lncRNA000277, lncRNA000774, lncRNA000756, lncRNA000100, and lncRNA000898. Transgenic experiments revealed that overexpression of lncRNA000170 inhibited type I trichome formation on the lower stems of the adult transgenic plants. We further determined that lncRNA000170 was transcribed from the complementary strand of Solyc10g006360, for which expression can be induced by lncRNA000170 in its overexpression lines and woolly mutants. Solyc10g006360 overexpression also caused type I trichome decrease. In addition, several trichome regulators, such as Wo, H, SlCycB2, and SlCycB3, were markedly downregulated in lncRNA000170 overexpression lines. These findings demonstrate that lncRNA000170 may be involved in the regulatory pathway mediated by these trichome regulators.