Ln Is a Key Regulator of Leaflet Shape and Number of Seeds per Pod in Soybean

• Published in: The Plant cell 2012-12, Vol.24 (12), p.4807-4818
• Main Authors: Jeong, Namhee, Suh, Su Jeoung, Kim, Min-Hee, Lee, Seukki, Moon, Jung-Kyung, Kim, Hong Sig, Jeong, Soon-Chun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Flowers; Flowers - genetics; Flowers - growth & development; Flowers - metabolism; Fruit - genetics; Fruit - growth & development; Fruit - metabolism; Genetic mutation; Genetic vectors; Genome, Plant - genetics; Genomics; Glycine max - genetics; Glycine max - growth & development; Glycine max - metabolism; Molecular Sequence Data; Phenotypes; Plant Leaves - genetics; Plant Leaves - growth & development; Plant Leaves - metabolism; Plant Proteins - genetics; Plant Proteins - metabolism; Plants; Polymerase chain reaction; Seeds; Seeds - genetics; Seeds - growth & development; Seeds - metabolism; Soybeans; Transgenic plants
• ISSN: 1040-4651; 1532-298X
• DOI: 10.1105/tpc.112.104968

Narrow leaflet soybean [Glycine max) varieties tend to have more seeds per pod than broad leaflet varieties. Narrow leaflet in soybean is conferred by a single recessive gene, In. Here, we show that the transition from broad (Ln) to narrow leaflet (In) is associated with an amino acid substitution in the EAR motif encoded by a gene (designated Gm-JAGGED1) homologous to Arabidopsis JAGGED (JAG) that regulates lateral organ development and the variant exerts a pleiotropic effect on fruit patterning. The genomic region that regulates both the traits was mapped to a 12.6-kb region containing only one gene, Gm-JAG1. Introducing the Gm-JAG1 allele into a loss-of-function Arabidopsis jagged mutant partially restored the wild-type JAG phenotypes, including leaf shape, flower opening, and fruit shape, but the Gm-jag1 (In) and EAR-deleted Gm-JAG1 alleles in the jagged mutant did not result in an apparent phenotypic change. These observations indicate that despite some degree of functional change of Gm-JAG1 due to the divergence from Arabidopsis JAG, Gm-JAG1 complemented the functions of JAG in Arabidopsis thaliana. However, the Gm-JAG1 homoeolog, Gm-JAG2, appears to be sub- or neofunctionalized, as revealed by the differential expression of the two genes in multiple plant tissues, a complementation test, and an allelic analysis at both loci.