Ectopic expression of soybean GmKNT1 in Arabidopsis results in altered leaf morphology and flower identity

作     者：Jun Liu Da Ha Zongming Xie Chunmei Wang Huiwen Wang Wanke Zhang Jinsong Zhang Shouyi Chen 

作者机构：National Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100101 China 

出 版 物：《Journal of Genetics and Genomics》 (遗传学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2008年第35卷第7期

页      面：441-449页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 07[理学] 08[工学] 09[农学] 071007[理学-遗传学] 0901[农学-作物学] 0836[工学-生物工程] 090102[农学-作物遗传育种] 

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.30671316) the National Basic Research Program of China(No.2002CB 111303) 

主　　题：soybean ectopic expression GmKNT1 KNOX genes development 

摘      要：Plant morphology is specified by leaves and flowers, and the shoot apical meristem （SAM） defines the architecture of plant leaves and flowers. Here, we reported the characterization of a soybean KNOX gene GmKNT1, which was highly homologous to Arabidopsis STM. The GmKNT1 was strongly expressed in roots, flowers and developing seeds. Its expression could be induced by IAA, ABA and JA, but inhibited by GA or cytokinin. Staining of the transgenic plants overexpressing GmKNT1-GUS fusion protein revealed that the GmKNT1 was mainly expressed at lobe region, SAM of young leaves, sepal and carpel, not in seed and mature leaves. Scanning electron microscopy （SEM） disclosed multiple changes in morphology of the epidermal cells and stigma. The transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing the GmKNT1 showed small and lobed leaves, shortened internodes and small clustered inflorescence. The lobed leaves might result from the function of the meristems located at the boundary of the leaf. Compared with wild type plants, transgenic plants had higher expression of the SAM-related genes including the CUP, WUS, CUC1, KNAT2 and KNAT6. These results indicated that the GmKNT1 could affect multiple aspects of plant growth and development by regulation of downstream genes expression.