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The flattened and needlelike leaves of the pine family (Pinaceae) share a conserved genetic network for adaxial-abaxial polarity but have diverged for photosynthetic adaptation.
Du, Hong; Ran, Jin-Hua; Feng, Yuan-Yuan; Wang, Xiao-Quan.
Affiliation
  • Du H; State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20 Nanxincun, Xiangshan, Beijing, 100093, China.
  • Ran JH; State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20 Nanxincun, Xiangshan, Beijing, 100093, China.
  • Feng YY; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
  • Wang XQ; State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20 Nanxincun, Xiangshan, Beijing, 100093, China.
BMC Evol Biol ; 20(1): 131, 2020 10 07.
Article in En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33028198
ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:

Leaves have highly diverse morphologies. However, with an evolutionary history of approximately 200 million years, leaves of the pine family are relatively monotonous and often collectively called "needles", although they vary in length, width and cross-section shapes. It would be of great interest to determine whether Pinaceae leaves share similar morpho-physiological features and even consistent developmental and adaptive mechanisms.

RESULTS:

Based on a detailed morpho-anatomical study of leaves from all 11 Pinaceae genera, we particularly investigated the expression patterns of adaxial-abaxial polarity genes in two types of leaves (needlelike and flattened) and compared their photosynthetic capacities. We found that the two types of leaves share conserved spatial patterning of vasculatures and genetic networks for adaxial-abaxial polarity, although they display different anatomical structures in the mesophyll tissue differentiation and distribution direction. In addition, the species with needlelike leaves exhibited better photosynthetic capacity than the species with flattened leaves.

CONCLUSIONS:

Our study provides the first evidence for the existence of a conserved genetic module controlling adaxial-abaxial polarity in the development of different Pinaceae leaves.
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Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Photosynthesis / Adaptation, Biological / Plant Leaves Language: En Journal: BMC Evol Biol Journal subject: BIOLOGIA Year: 2020 Document type: Article Affiliation country: China

Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Photosynthesis / Adaptation, Biological / Plant Leaves Language: En Journal: BMC Evol Biol Journal subject: BIOLOGIA Year: 2020 Document type: Article Affiliation country: China