Elucidating Gene Network Modules Regulating Inter-specific Diversity in Plant Leaf Shape

在陆地植物中将太阳能转化为化学能是农业生产力的来源。这一过程发生在树叶中，但不同类型的树叶产生碳化合物的能力如何不同尚不清楚。我们也不知道基因是如何作用和相互作用来产生不同形状和大小的叶子的。这个项目将利用对基因如何被调控来产生基因产物的分析，这些基因产物相互作用，产生级联效应，最终导致不同形式的叶子的形成。这一理解将使我们能够操纵基因表达，以产生更有效的叶子形式。这个项目还将传播基因调控和叶功能的知识，并为来自以西班牙裔为主的学区的高中生提供实践研究经验。形态多样性是生物学中的一个关键问题。被子植物在叶片形状和叶片发育方面表现出很大的多样性，这使得叶片成为了解形态自然变异背后的机制的理想靶标。叶片在生产生物量和提高农业产量方面也具有重要的功能。本研究建立在番茄及其近缘植物叶片发育的基因共表达网络基础上。分子实验和假设检验验证了生物信息学预测的基因调控网络(GRN)，并确定了调控叶片形状的基因网络模块中的关键成分，如叶柄上的叶片(BOP)。通过转基因实验改变BOP在番茄中的表达，可以在番茄物种复合体中重建自然发生的叶片表型。研究人员将确定BOP靶标，查看BOP共表达的基因，以整合三个物种的网络信息(目标1)，检测跨物种GRN中基因之间的差异相互作用(目标2)，并生成转录本和构建GRN，以确定选定的优生根之间的GRN重新连接(目标3)。

Conversion of solar energy to chemical energy in land plants is the source of agricultural productivity. This process occurs in leaves but how different types of leaves differ in their ability to produce carbon compounds is not well understood. Nor do we understand how genes act and interact to produce leaves of different shapes and sizes. This project will utilize analysis of how genes are regulated to generate gene products that interact to create cascades of effects eventually leading to the formation of different forms of leaves. This understanding will allow us to manipulate gene expression to generate more efficient leaf forms. This project will also disseminate knowledge of gene regulation and leaf function, and provide hands on research experience to high school students from a predominantly Hispanic school district.How morphological diversity has arisen is a key question in biology. Angiosperms exhibit a great diversity in leaf shape and leaf development has been characterized in several species, making leaves ideal targets to understand the mechanism behind morphological natural variation. Leaves are also functionally significant for generating biomass and leading to agricultural yield. This research is based upon a deduced gene co-expression network underlying leaf development in tomato and its relatives. Molecular experiments and hypothesis testing validated the bioinformatically predicted gene regulatory network (GRN) and identified key components, such as BLADE-ON-PETIOLE (BOP), within the gene network module regulating leaf shape. Alteration in BOP expression by transgenic experiments in tomato, S. pennellii and S. habrochaites, can recreate naturally occurring leaf phenotypes in the tomato species complex. The investigators will identify BOP targets, look at BOP co-expressed genes to integrate network information across three species (Aim 1), detect differential interactions (DiffCorr) between genes in the GRN across species (Aim 2), and generate transcriptomes and build GRNs to identify GRN rewiring across selected eudicots (Aim 3).