高等植物的侧生器官如叶子，产生于顶端分生组织的外围细胞。进化上高度保守的Ⅰ类KNOX基因参与维持顶端分生组织干细胞的未分化状态，而叶子的起始和发育需要Ⅰ类KNOX基因被稳定抑制。我们已发表的结果表明转录因子AS1、 AS2和TCP家族可以形成蛋白复合体共同抑制模式植物拟南芥叶子中Ⅰ类KNOX基因的表达。表观遗传因子也被发现参与抑制Ⅰ类KNOX基因的表达，如这些基因的染色质区域富含抑制型表观遗传修饰H3K27me3，该修饰由PRC2复合物中的组蛋白H3K27甲基转移酶催化建立并被PRC1复合物中的LHP1识别。我们最新的研究发现，转录因子AS1和 AS2可以直接与LHP1结合，直接将遗传与表观遗传调控因子在分子水平联系起来。本项目旨在通过研究转录因子和表观遗传因子如何形成蛋白复合体以及分析该蛋白复合体的结构，探索遗传与表观遗传如何协同作用调控植物发育的分子机制。

Lateral organs such as leaves are generated from cells at the periphery of shoot apical meristems (SAMs) in higher plants. The evolutionarily conserved class-I KNOTTED1-like homeobox (KNOX) genes are involved in maintaining the undifferentiated status of stem cells in SAM, and initiation and subsequent development of a leaf requires stable repression of class-I KNOX genes. We have reported that transcription factors ASYMMETRIC LEAVES1 (AS1), AS2 and CINCINNATA-like TEOSINTE BRANCHED1-CYCLOIDEA-PCF (TCP) family can form a protein complex to repress BP, KNAT2 and KNAT6. In addition to transcription factors, epigenetic factors also participate in regulating class-I KNOX gene expression. Repressive epigenetic marker H3K27me3, which is deposited by POLYCOMB REPRESSIVE COMPLEX2 (PRC2), containing a H3K27 methyltransferases such as CLF, and is recognized by LHP1 within the PRC1-like complex, is enriched in the chromatin regions of class-I KNOX genes. We recently find that AS1/AS2 and LHP1 exhibit physical interactions in vitro and in vivo, which directly connects the genetic and epigenetic regulators at molecular level. Here we aim to search the molecular mechanism of genetic and epigenetic pathways together to regulate plant develop by studying how AS1/AS2 and LHP1 interact and analyzing the structure of the protein complex.