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Volume 2 Journal of Medical Biotechnology Biotechnology 2018
July 16-17, 2018
World Biotechnology Congress
July 16-17, 2018 Berlin, Germany
Reduced complexity, RCO: A leaf sculptor within the Brassicaceae family
Mohsen Hajheidari
Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Germany
We are currently experiencing unprecedented climate change, which is a serious threat to our
natural resources and food security at a time of rapid population increase. The sustainable
food security requires a constant increase of genetic potential in crops. In order to increase the
genetic potential of crops, exploring the genetic resources beyond major crops is a necessity. Leaf
size and shape have an important effect on physiological processes such as photosynthesis and
transpiration and thus on plant biomass. Therefore how morphological diversity of plant leaves
is regulated constitutes an important branch of plant biology. In order to understand the genetic
basis of morphological diversity in leaves, we have introduced a new model system C. hirsuta,
which has dissected leaves with distinct leaflets, and it is a close relative of A. thaliana, which has
simple leaves. Using comparative genetic approaches we discovered that a tandem duplication of the Late Meristem Identity 1 (LMI1)
gene has given rise to two new copies in C. hirsuta. Diversification of the regulatory elements and coding sequence in one of the copies
led to emergence of a novel transcription factor called reduced complexity, RCO. The RCO gene was lost in A. thaliana, contributing
to leaf simplification in this species. In contrast to LMI1, which is expressed in the margins of leaflets, RCO is expressed at the base of
leaflets and promotes leaflet formation through local growth regulation, at least in part by reprogramming the local phyto-hormone
homeostasis. RCO expression is limited to leaves and its function is independent of shoot apical meristem development. Our data
demonstrated that RCO is capable of improving photosynthetic efficiency, suggesting its contribution to adaptive evolution of leaf
morphology. RCO studies could provide a basis for improvement of photosynthetic efficiency in crops.
Biography
Mohsen Hajheidari has obtained his Master’s degree in Plant Breeding at the University of Razi, Iran. Before undertaking his PhD in the group of Csaba Koncz in
the Department of Plant Developmental Biology at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ), he was a Scientific Member at the Agricultural
Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran. He has completed his PhD in Genetics in 2010 at the University of Cologne as an International Max Planck Research
School (IMPRS) student. Following a Postdoctoral study in the group of Csaba Koncz, he joined the group of Miltos Tsiantis in the Department of Comparative
Development and Genetics in 2013. He is currently using comparative genetic approaches to uncover the genetic bases of leaf morphological complexity in plants.
His goal is to combine evolutionary and computational approaches with comparative genetics and molecular physiology to further decipher plant-environment interaction.
Mohsen Hajheidari, J Med Biotechnol 2018, Volume 2