The WRKY family of transcription factors is best known from members that are expressed in response to pathogen infection, mechanical damage, and senescence. On pages 1359–1375, Johnson et al. now report that one member of this family in Arabidopsis, WRKY44, plays a different role. The cover shows a wild-type trichome on the surface of an Arabidopsis leaf. In mutants that lack WRK44 function, fewer trichomes arise and they are unbranched. Seed coat (testa) development is also compromised -- mucilage and tannin are lacking. The gene has been named TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA2 (TTG2) because ttg2 mutants share pleiotropic defects with ttg1 mutants. TTG1 encodes a WD40 protein, and its function is required for TTG2 expression in tannin-producing cells but not in trichomes.