Coordination of differentiation rate and local patterning in compound‐leaf development

Abstract

Summary The variability in leaf form in nature is immense. Leaf patterning occurs by differential growth, taking place during a limited window of morphogenetic activity at the leaf marginal meristem. While many regulators have been implicated in the designation of the morphogenetic window and in leaf patterning, how these effectors interact to generate a particular form is still not well understood. We investigated the interaction among different effectors of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) compound‐leaf development, using genetic and molecular analyses. Mutations in the tomato auxin response factor SlARF5/SlMP, which normally promotes leaflet formation, suppressed the increased leaf complexity of mutants with extended morphogenetic window. Impaired activity of the NAC/CUC transcription factor GOBLET (GOB), which specifies leaflet boundaries, also reduced leaf complexity in these backgrounds. Analysis of genetic interactions showed that the patterning factors SlMP, GOB and the MYB transcription factor LYRATE (LYR) coordinately regulate leaf patterning by modulating in parallel different aspects of leaflet formation and shaping. This work places an array of developmental regulators in a morphogenetic context. It reveals how organ‐level differentiation rate and local growth are coordinated to sculpture an organ. These concepts are applicable to the coordination of pattering and differentiation in other species and developmental processes.

Coordinating the morphogenesis-differentiation balance by tweaking the cytokinin-gibberellin equilibrium

“…The length of the morphogenetic window is thus a key determinant of final leaf shape. The flexibility of the morphogenetic window is regulated through a coordinated interplay between transcription factors and hormones [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Tomato leaf development is therefore an attractive system to investigate the contribution of the morphogenesis-differentiation balance to organ shaping.…”

Multiple feedbacks on self‐organized morphogenesis during plant regeneration

“…Understanding the morphogenesis of organs is a fundamental question in biology, extensively explored across various biological kingdoms (Efroni et al, 2016;Rahni et al, 2016;Goodwin & Nelson, 2020;Hamant & Saunders, 2020;Zhu et al, 2020;Israeli et al, 2021;Maroudas-Sacks & Keren, 2021;Smit et al, 2023).…”

The VIL gene CRAWLING ELEPHANT controls maturation and differentiation in tomato via polycomb silencing

“…Tomato plants have compound leaves, which are composed of multiple leaflets [27]. The elaboration of compound leaves depends on slow maturation of the developing leaf, which enables an extended organogenesis activity at the leaf margin, during which leaflets are formed [28][29][30][31][32]. Leaflets are formed by differential growth at the leaf margin, where regions of blade growth are separated by intercalary regions of growth inhibition [33].…”