叶发育的遗传调控机理研究进展

Recent Progress in Genetic Control of Leaf Development

叶是植物进行光合作用的主要器官。高等植物叶原基起始于顶端分生组织的周边区,在一系列基因精确调控下,叶原基建立近-远轴、基-顶轴和中-侧轴极性,引导原基细胞朝着特定的方向分裂和分化,最终发育成一定形态和大小的叶片。近年来分子遗传学研究结果表明,数个转录因子家族基因、小分子RNA和细胞增殖相关因子组成一个复杂的遗传控制网络,调节叶片极性建成过程。此外,复叶的形态建成还受到另外一些转录因子的调控。本文对近年来叶发育遗传调控机理研究的新进展做简要介绍。

Leaves are important photosynthetic organs in plants. Leaf primordia initiate from peripheral zone of the shoot apical meristem. Under precise regulations involving a number of factors, leaf primordia establish the polarity along three axes, namely adaxial-abaxial, proximal-distal, and medial-lateral axes. The established axes guide cells of leaf primordia to divide and differentiate at specific directions and eventually to form leaves with certain shape and size. Recent molecular genetic studies have demonstrated that several families of transcrip- tion factors, small RNAs, and genes involved in cell proliferation constitute a complex network to regulate leaf polarity formation. In addition, the compound leaf morphogenesis is demonstrated to require some other tran- scription factors. In this review we summarized the recent progress of genetic regulation of leaf development.