A Conserved Mechanism of Bract Suppression in the Grass Family

Whipple, C. J., Hall, D. H., DeBlasio, S. L., Taguchi-Shiobara, F., Schmidt, R. J., Jackson, D. P. (March 2010) A Conserved Mechanism of Bract Suppression in the Grass Family. Plant Cell. ISSN 1532-298X (Electronic) 1040-4651 (Linking)

Abstract

Suppression of inflorescence leaf, or bract, growth has evolved multiple times in diverse angiosperm lineages, including the Poaceae and Brassicaceae. Studies of Arabidopsis thaliana mutants have revealed several genes involved in bract suppression, but it is not known if these genes play a similar role in other plants with suppressed bracts. We identified maize (Zea mays) tassel sheath (tsh) mutants, characterized by the loss of bract suppression, that comprise five loci (tsh1-tsh5). We used map-based cloning to identify Tsh1 and found that it encodes a GATA zinc-finger protein, a close homolog of HANABA TARANU (HAN) of Arabidopsis. The bract suppression function of Tsh1 is conserved throughout the grass family, as we demonstrate that the rice (Oryza sativa) NECK LEAF1 (NL1) and barley (Hordeum vulgare) THIRD OUTER GLUME (TRD) genes are orthologous with Tsh1. Interestingly, NL1/Tsh1/TRD expression and function are not conserved with HAN. The existence of paralogous NL1/Tsh1/TRD-like genes in the grasses indicates that the NL1/Tsh1/TRD lineage was created by recent duplications that may have facilitated its neofunctionalization. A comparison with the Arabidopsis genes regulating bract suppression further supports the hypothesis that the convergent evolution of bract suppression in the Poaceae involved recruitment of a distinct genetic pathway.

Item Type: Paper
Uncontrolled Keywords: Bract Grass inflorescence leaf Poaceae Brassicaceae arabidopsis map-based cloning
Subjects: organism description > plant > Arabidopsis
organism description > plant > maize
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > annotation > map annotation
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > protein structure, function, modification > protein types > zinc finger proteins
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Jackson lab
Depositing User: CSHL Librarian
Date: 19 March 2010
Date Deposited: 20 Oct 2011 13:27
Last Modified: 08 Apr 2015 13:45
PMCID: PMC2861461
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/15583

Actions (login required)

Administrator's edit/view item Administrator's edit/view item