Control of leaf morphogenesis by microRNAs.
Plants with altered microRNA metabolism have pleiotropic developmental defects, but direct evidence for microRNAs regulating specific aspects of plant morphogenesis has been lacking. In a genetic screen, we identified the JAW locus, which produces a microRNA that can guide messenger RNA cleavage of several TCP genes controlling leaf development. MicroRNA-guided cleavage of TCP4 mRNA is necessary to prevent aberrant activity of the TCP4 gene expressed from its native promoter. In addition, overexpression of wild-type and microRNA-resistant TCP variants demonstrates that mRNA cleavage is largely sufficient to restrict TCP function to its normal domain of activity. TCP genes with microRNA target sequences are found in a wide range of species, indicating that microRNA-mediated control of leaf morphogenesis is conserved in plants with very different leaf forms.
Palatnik
Javier F
JF
Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany.
Allen
Edwards
E
Wu
Xuelin
X
Schommer
Carla
C
Schwab
Rebecca
R
Carrington
James C
JC
Weigel
Detlef
D
D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis; D009154:Mutation; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D012323:RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019076:Transgenes
D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D035683:MicroRNAs; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018749:RNA, Plant