A study for molecular mechanisms that enable leaf acquisition in angiosperms and their functional analysis

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K23742
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0702:Biology at cellular to organismal levels, and related fields
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Nakayama Hokuto 東京大学, 大学院理学系研究科(理学部), 助教 (30610935)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-08-30 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: Amborella trichopoda / Arabidopsis thaliana / Evo-Devo / RNA-seq / Solanum lycopersicum / インフォマティクス / 進化発生学 / 葉

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The molecular mechanisms that enable leaf acquisition in angiosperms were investigated. To investigate it, RNA -seq was performed using simple-leafed species, Amborella (Amborella trichopoda) and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). DEG analysis, Go enrichment analysis, and comparative Gene Co-expression network revealed that the gene expression profiles of leaves of the two species were similar, even though they are phylogenetically distant from each other. This suggested that the developmental program of simple leaves in angiosperms was already established in early diverged angiosperms such as Amborella.

Free Research Field

進化発生学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究により、被子植物における単葉発生のメカニズムが、現存する被子植物の系統樹の中で最基部に位置し、単葉を形成するアンボレラ(Amborella trichopoda)とシロイヌナズナとの間で類似していることが初めて示唆された。これを端緒に、これからの解析により、これまで不明であった被子植物の葉の獲得とその進化についての理解が深まると考えられる。