Skip to main content
ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Plant Gene Expression Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #330611

Title: The ULTRAPETALA1 trxG factor contributes to patterning the Arabidopsis adaxial-abaxial leaf polarity axis

Author
item PIRES, HELENA - University Of California
item SHEMYAKINA, ELENA - University Of California
item Fletcher, Jennifer

Submitted to: Plant Signaling and Behavior
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/28/2015
Publication Date: 7/28/2015
Citation: Pires, H.R., Shemyakina, E.A., Fletcher, J.C. 2015. The ULTRAPETALA1 trxG factor contributes to patterning the Arabidopsis adaxial-abaxial leaf polarity axis. Plant Signaling and Behavior. 10(7):e1034422.

Interpretive Summary: Leaves make up the main component of plant biomass and thus understanding their formation is important for ultimately increasing biomass yield. This study investigated the interaction between two genes, ULT1 and KAN1, which both function in making the cells in the top part of the leaf different from those on the bottom. By observing the internal structure of leaves in which one or both genes were non-functional, we determined that ULT1 and KAN1 play opposite roles this process, with KAN1 inducing the development of bottom cell types and ULT1 promoting the development of top cell types in the absence of KAN1. These data provide new insights into the activities of genes that control leaf development that may be translated to improve the biomass yield of agronomic crop species.

Technical Abstract: The SAND domain protein ULTRAPETALA1 (ULT1) functions as a trithorax group factor that regulates a variety of developmental processes in Arabidopsis. We have recently shown that ULT1 regulates developmental patterning in the gynoecia and leaves. ULT1 acts together with the KANADI1 (KAN1) transcription factor to pattern the apical-basal axis during gynoecium formation, whereas the two genes act antagonistically to pattern the adaxial-abaxial axis during both gynoecium and leaf formation. In particular, our data showed that ULT1 is necessary for the kan1 adaxialized organ phenotype. Here, we observe the internal structure of ult1, kan1 and ult1 kan1 rosette leaves to better understand the suppression of the kan1 adaxialized leaf polarity defect by ult1 mutations. Our results indicate that ULT1 and KAN1 act antagonistically to pattern the adaxial-abaxial axis in leaves by establishing the asymmetry of the internal cell layers.