A Homeobox Sequence Regulating Compound Leaf Development in Tomato

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Leaves are the primary photosynthetic organs on a plant and are critical to plant survival. Higher plants can have either simple or compound leaves and sometimes these two leaf types can occur in closely related species. Dr. Sinha will perform a gentic and molecular analysis of compound leaf development in tomato. She has cloned a homeobox containing cDNA, T6, from tomato. The T6 clone maps close to two dominant leaf mutations, Mouse ears and Curl, both of which lead to excess leaf compounding. In situ hybridization experiments indicate that the T6 gene is expressed in developing leaf primordia and developing blade margins. Over expression of the cDNA in transgenic tomato results in excessively compounded leaves. Reduction of the T6 transcript causes formation of simple bladeless leaves. She has formulated an hypothesis for compound leaf morphogenesis in tomato based on existing leaf mutations. She will perform genetic crosses between Mouse ears, Curl and other existing leaf mutations to refine her hypothesis. These approaches should substantially increase our understanding of compound leaf development.