植物花对称性发育研究的进展:从理论到应用的双重价值

Study on the Molecular Mechanism Underlying Floral Asymmetry:from Basic Research to Application

以蝶型花亚科的百脉根(Lotusjaponicus)为研究对象,罗达等研究组阐明了在豆科与其他物种基因组中调控花对称性发育的分子机制具有共源性(synapomorphy),揭示了在高等植物花形进化过程中,不同进化关系的开花植物独立地招募TCP基因,调控了两侧对称花发育过程中背腹轴的发育。在百脉根中的工作提示:对TCP基因进行遗传操作,可以定向改造花瓣的形态,表明花对称性分子机理的研究具有重要的应用价值。有关该项研究的论文已经发表在美国科学院院刊(PNAS103:4970-4975,2006)。

Crops in legume family are important food sources for human beings. Based on the study in Lotus japonicus, a model legume plant in Papilionoideae, scientific groups led by Luo Da demonstrated that TCP proteins have been independently recruited as determinants of petal identities along the dorsoventral axis in two distant lineages of flowering plants A ntirrhinum majus and Lotus japonicus, suggesting a synapomorphic origin for the mechanisms in the control of floral zygomorphy. The alteration of petal shapes can be achieved by manipulating the expression level of a key gene, LjCYC2, in Lotus japonicus, indicating that petal shapes could be modified, which subsequently merits the utilization of soybean heterosis with great practical significance. Recent advance in the studying of petal shape and floral zygomorphy in Lotus japonicus were full published in PNAS 103： 4970-4975, 2006.