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  • The EMBO Journal (2002) 21, 1267 - 1279
  • doi:10.1093/emboj/21.6.1267

The ANGUSTIFOLIA gene of Arabidopsis, a plant CtBP gene, regulates leaf-cell expansion, the arrangement of cortical microtubules in leaf cells and expression of a gene involved in cell-wall formation

Gyung-Tae Kim1, Keiko Shoda2,3, Tomohiko Tsuge3,4, Kiu-Hyung Cho1, Hirofumi Uchimiya3, Ryusuke Yokoyama5, Kazuhiko Nishitani5 and Hirokazu Tsukaya1,6

  1. National Institute for Basic Biology/Center for Integrative Bioscience, 38 Nishigounaka, Myodaiji-cho, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan
  2. Present address: Molecular Membrane Biology Laboratory, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
  3. Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan
  4. Present address: Osborn Memorial Laboratory, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, 165 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 6520-8104, USA
  5. Department of Developmental Biology and Neurosciences, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-77, Japan
  6. Form and Function, PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Corporation, 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi 332-0012 and School of Advanced Sciences, the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Shonan Villege, Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0193, Japan

Correspondence to:

Hirokazu Tsukaya, E-mail: tsukaya@nibb.ac.jp

Received 30 August 2001; Accepted 20 December 2001; Revised 3 December 2001

We previously showed that the ANGUSTIFOLIA (AN) gene regulates the width of leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana, by controlling the polar elongation of leaf cells. In the present study, we found that the abnormal arrangement of cortical microtubules (MTs) in an leaf cells appeared to account entirely for the abnormal shape of the cells. It suggested that the AN gene might regulate the polarity of cell growth by controlling the arrangement of cortical MTs. We cloned the AN gene using a map-based strategy and identified it as the first member of the CtBP family to be found in plants. Wild-type AN cDNA reversed the narrow-leaved phenotype and the abnormal arrangement of cortical MTs of the an-1 mutation. In the animal kingdom, CtBPs self-associate and act as co-repressors of transcription. The AN protein can also self-associate in the yeast two-hybrid system. Furthermore, microarray analysis suggested that the AN gene might regulate the expression of certain genes, e.g. the gene involved in formation of cell walls, MERI5. A discussion of the molecular mechanisms involved in the leaf shape regulation is presented based on our observations.

  • Keywords:

    • ANGUSTIFOLIA,
    • cortical microtubules,
    • CtBP,
    • leaf morphogenesis,
    • MERI5