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The genetic basis for differences in leaf form between Arabidopsis thaliana and its wild relative Cardamine hirsuta

Nature Genetics volume 38, pages 942–947 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

A key question in biology is how differences in gene function or regulation produce new morphologies during evolution. Here we investigate the genetic basis for differences in leaf form between two closely related plant species, Arabidopsis thaliana and Cardamine hirsuta. We report that in C. hirsuta, class I KNOTTED1-like homeobox (KNOX) proteins are required in the leaf to delay cellular differentiation and produce a dissected leaf form, in contrast to A. thaliana, in which KNOX exclusion from leaves results in a simple leaf form. These differences in KNOX expression arise through changes in the activity of upstream gene regulatory sequences. The function of ASYMMETRIC LEAVES1/ROUGHSHEATH2/PHANTASTICA (ARP) proteins to repress KNOX expression is conserved between the two species, but in C. hirsuta the ARP-KNOX regulatory module controls new developmental processes in the leaf. Thus, evolutionary tinkering with KNOX regulation, constrained by ARP function, may have produced diverse leaf forms by modulating growth and differentiation patterns in developing leaf primordia.

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Figure 1: KNOX proteins accumulate in the dissected leaf of C. hirsuta but are excluded from the simple leaf of A. thaliana.
Figure 2: C.hirsuta STM expression in young leaf primordia is required for leaflet initiation.
Figure 3: AS1 function is conserved between A. thaliana and C. hirsuta, whereas 5′ upstream regions of KNOX genes are sufficient to drive species-specific expression.
Figure 4: C. hirsuta AS1 delimits C. hirsuta BP expression and controls leaflet positioning by regulating growth.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Hake for 35S::BP and 35S::KN1-GR plasmids and helpful discussions; M. Scanlon for anti-KNOX antibody, J. Long for STM plasmid and advice on in situ hybridization; I. Furner for mutagenesis, T. Rich, S. Hiscock and D. Bailey for help with C. hirsuta identification; Y. Eshed and J. Bowman for cloning vectors, FIL::LhG4 and PHV::LhG4 lines; M. Lenhard for ANT::LhG4; J. Craft for VTOp::BP and VTOP::STM lines; I. Moore for discussions on the LhG4 transcription activation system and S. Langer and M. Anezaki for technical assistance. We also thank J. Langdale for comments on the manuscript, A. Hudson for helpful discussions, J. Baker for photography and Genome and Agricultural Biotechnology for support of library construction. This work was funded by a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council grant and Oxford University Pump Priming grant to M.T. A.H is the recipient of a University of Oxford Glasstone Research Fellowship and a Balliol College Junior Research Fellowship. We also acknowledge the support of the Gatsby Charitable foundation and the Royal Society.

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  1. Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3RB, UK

    Angela Hay & Miltos Tsiantis

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  1. Angela Hay
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  2. Miltos Tsiantis
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Correspondence to Miltos Tsiantis.

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A patent application for the use of this system for commercial purposes has been filed by ISIS Innovation, the technology transfer company of the University of Oxford.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Fig. 1

Sequence comparisons of 5′ upstream regions of STM and BP from Arabidopsis and C. hirsuta. (PDF 187 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 2

Leaflet formation in response to ectopic KNOX activity in Arabidopsis. (PDF 1311 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 3

Predicted C. hirsuta AS1 protein sequence. (PDF 118 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 4

Increased KNOX protein accumulation in C. hirsuta AS1 RNAi leaves. (PDF 103 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 5

Loss of adaxial cell differentiation in chas1-1 leaves. (PDF 334 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 6

Analysis of transcript levels in RNAi lines. (PDF 429 kb)

Supplementary Table 1

Primer sequences. (PDF 51 kb)

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Hay, A., Tsiantis, M. The genetic basis for differences in leaf form between Arabidopsis thaliana and its wild relative Cardamine hirsuta. Nat Genet 38, 942–947 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng1835

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