The Development and Evolution of Complex Leaves

0092599Sinha 高等植物的叶子是主要的光合作用结构，负责全球范围内的能量交换，并负责植物的生存。 虽然任何给定的茎尖都可以产生简单和复杂两种类型的叶子，但这些不同叶子形态的发育和进化基础尚不清楚。高等植物的系统发育关系表明，复杂的叶子在陆地植物的进化过程中出现了多个独立的时期。 简单和复杂的叶子在一些基本级联过程的水平上是否有所不同，或者新的基因和调控网络是否参与产生叶子复杂性的每个独立事件？明确基因的作用，如 KNOTTED-Like HOMEOBOX 1 类基因 (KNOX1)、LFY。 PHAN在叶子的生成中需要定义复杂度。 此外，还需要确定调节该过程的未知基因座。 拟议的研究将利用具有复杂叶子的不相关家族的基因表达分析、表现出对比叶子形式的克隆个体的差异基因表达分析，以及调节相关物种叶子复杂性的因子的克隆。 这项研究的目的是确定调节叶子形状和形态的基因，并帮助我们了解叶子形态是如何发育以独特地适应叶子所执行的光合作用功能的。

0092599SinhaLeaves of higher plants are the primary photosynthetic structures and account for energy exchanges on a global scale and are responsible for plant survival. While two types of leaves, simple and complex, can arise from any given shoot apex, the developmental and evolutionary basis of these divergent leaf morphologies is not known. The phylogenetic relationships in higher plants suggest that complex leaves arose multiple independent times during the evolution of land plants. Do simple and complex leaves differ at the level of some basic cascade of processes or are new genes and regulatory networks involved in generating each independent event of leaf complexity? The role of well-defined genes like the KNOTTED-Like HOMEOBOX Class 1 genes (KNOX1), LFY. PHAN in the generation of leaf complexity needs to be defined. Further, as yet unknown loci that regulate the process also need to be identified. The proposed research will utilize gene expression analyses in unrelated families with complex leaves, differential gene expression analyses in clonal individuals exhibiting contrasting leaf forms, and the cloning of factors that regulate leaf complexity in related species. The goal of this research is to identify the genes that regulate leaf shape and form, and to help us understand how leaf form is developed to uniquely suit the photosynthetic function that leaves perform.