Abstract
The final shapes of plant organs are results of elaboration of the regional regulation of cell division and differentiation. The cincinnata (cin) mutant of snap dragon has altered leaves with uneven curvature of the surface. The cin leaves have excess cell division in the leaf tip and margin. Because CIN codes TCP transcription factor, it is clear that TCP is involved in the determination of shape of organs. However, no systematic functional analyses of this family have been conducted. We applied CRES-T system to Arabidopsis TCPs for analysis of functional role of TCP family on plant development. Expression of the chimeric TCP repressor induced defects in the shape of multiple organs including cotyledon and leaf. These organs did not have clear specification of cell shape according to the position. These results indicate that the TCPs are required for the regional regulation of cell division and differentiation during organ development.
