Abstract
BackgroundIn Arabidopsis thaliana (A. thaliana) the WD40 protein TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA1 (TTG1) controls five traits relevant for the adaptation of plants to environmental changes including the production of proanthocyanidin, anthocyanidin, seed coat mucilage, trichomes and root hairs. The analysis of different Brassicaceae species suggests that the function of TTG1 is conserved within the family.ResultsIn this work, we studied the function of TTG1 in Arabis alpina (A. alpina). A comparison of wild type and two Aattg1 alleles revealed that AaTTG1 is involved in the regulation of all five traits. A detailed analysis of the five traits showed striking phenotypic differences between A. alpina and A. thaliana such that trichome formation occurs also at later stages of leaf development and that root hairs form at non-root hair positions.ConclusionsThe evolutionary conservation of the regulation of the five traits by TTG1 on the one hand and the striking phenotypic differences make A. alpina a very interesting genetic model system to study the evolution of TTG1-dependent gene regulatory networks at a functional level.
Highlights
In Arabidopsis thaliana (A. thaliana) the WD40 protein TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA1 (TTG1) controls five traits relevant for the adaptation of plants to environmental changes including the production of proanthocyanidin, anthocyanidin, seed coat mucilage, trichomes and root hairs
In this work we studied the function of TTG1 in Arabis alpina (A. alpina)
Identification of Aattg1 mutants in A. alpina To initiate a genetic dissection of TTG1-dependent regulation cascades in A. alpina, we identified the putative A. alpina TTG1 gene by homology and synteny comparisons
Summary
In Arabidopsis thaliana (A. thaliana) the WD40 protein TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA1 (TTG1) controls five traits relevant for the adaptation of plants to environmental changes including the production of proanthocyanidin, anthocyanidin, seed coat mucilage, trichomes and root hairs. One approach towards a mechanistic understanding of phenotypic changes is evolutionary developmental biology ( called Evo-Devo) [1]. As most of our knowledge is based on a few well-characterized model systems that are separated by large evolutionary distances, evolutionary comparisons are often descriptive and have little functional depth. Evo-Devo approaches aim to characterize the key players or pathways known to be relevant for a given process in one model organism in an evolutionarily distantly related species. For a functional evolutionary comparison of developmental processes it is necessary to study clearly homologous processes in closely related species. This enables the understanding of changes in the regulatory network at a mechanistic level
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