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Abstract
BackgroundTo sustain the global requirements for food and renewable resources, unraveling the molecular networks underlying plant growth is becoming pivotal. Although several approaches to identify genes and networks involved in final organ size have been proven successful, our understanding remains fragmentary.ResultsHere, we assessed variation in 103 lines of the Zea mays B73xH99 RIL population for a set of final leaf size and whole shoot traits at the seedling stage, complemented with measurements capturing growth dynamics, and cellular measurements. Most traits correlated well with the size of the division zone, implying that the molecular basis of final leaf size is already defined in dividing cells of growing leaves. Therefore, we searched for association between the transcriptional variation in dividing cells of the growing leaf and final leaf size and seedling biomass, allowing us to identify genes and processes correlated with the specific traits. A number of these genes have a known function in leaf development. Additionally, we illustrated that two independent mechanisms contribute to final leaf size, maximal growth rate and the duration of growth.ConclusionsUntangling complex traits such as leaf size by applying in-depth phenotyping allows us to define the relative contributions of the components and their mutual associations, facilitating dissection of the biological processes and regulatory networks underneath.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13059-015-0735-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
To sustain the global requirements for food and renewable resources, unraveling the molecular networks underlying plant growth is becoming pivotal
The size of the division zone (DZ) correlates with final leaf size, shoot and growth parameters We phenotyped an established F12 recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from the inbred parents B73 and H99 [40] for leafand shoot-related traits at the seedling stage (Table 1; Fig. S1 in Additional file 1)
The majority of the traits are linked to the final size of the fourth leaf: final leaf length (LL), final leaf width (Lwi), final leaf area (LA) and final leaf weight (Lwe)
Summary
To sustain the global requirements for food and renewable resources, unraveling the molecular networks underlying plant growth is becoming pivotal. Leaves are the main organs for photosynthesis of the plant and have an indispensable role in the generation of metabolic energy and organic compounds [1]. Leaf size is an important component of plant architecture that determines in part the amount of energy that can be captured, and as such has a profound effect on productivity. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying plant leaf growth and final size is a major goal for plant science. In the first phase after emergence of the leaf primordium from the shoot apical meristem, cell division and expansion take place simultaneously so that the mean cell size remains constant and the complete leaf consists of dividing cells in the so-called division zone (DZ). Cells stop dividing at the tip of the leaf, but continue to expand post-mitotically, giving rise to the expansion
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