title: Resolving distinct genetic regulators of tomato leaf shape within a heteroblastic and ontogenetic context.
abstract: Leaf shape is mutable, changing in ways modulated by both development and environment within genotypes. A complete model of leaf phenotype would incorporate the changes in leaf shape during juvenile-to-adult phase transitions and the ontogeny of each leaf. Here, we provide a morphometric description of >33,000 leaflets from a set of tomato (Solanum spp) introgression lines grown under controlled environment conditions. We first compare the shape of these leaves, arising during vegetative development, with >11,000 previously published leaflets from a field setting and >11,000 leaflets from wild tomato relatives. We then quantify the changes in shape, across ontogeny, for successive leaves in the heteroblastic series. Using principal component analysis, we then separate genetic effects modulating (1) the overall shape of all leaves versus (2) the shape of specific leaves in the series, finding the former more heritable than the latter and comparing quantitative trait loci regulating each. Our results demonstrate that phenotype is highly contextual and that unbiased assessments of phenotype, for quantitative genetic or other purposes, would ideally sample the many developmental and environmental factors that modulate it.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616.
authors.forename: Daniel H
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4875-1447
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Chitwood
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616.
authors.forename: Aashish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ranjan
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616.
authors.forename: Ravi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616.
authors.forename: Yasunori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ichihashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616.
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zumstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616.
authors.forename: Lauren R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Headland
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616.
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ostria-Gallardo
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616.
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Aguilar-Martínez
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bush
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616.
authors.forename: Leonela
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Carriedo
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fulop
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616.
authors.forename: Ciera C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616.
authors.forename: Julin N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Maloof
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616 nrsinha@ucdavis.edu.
authors.forename: Neelima R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Sinha
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D007178:Inbreeding; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000235:genetics*; D008954:Models, Biological; D010641:Phenotype; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000235:genetics*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci / Q000235:genetics