Abstract
BOP1 and BOP2 genes (BOP genes) are thought to regulate determinacy of leaf development in Arabidopsis thaliana, since recessive bop1/bop2 double mutant exhibits indeterminate growth of leaf blade. Interestingly, some wild plants exhibit indeterminate leaf morphogenesis like the bop1/bop2 double mutant. For example, in so-called one-leaf plants, belonging to the family Gesneriaceae, one of the two cotyledons grows indeterminately.
We isolated BOP homologs from a one-leaf plant (Monophyllaea glabra) and a taxonomically closely related plant Saintpaulia ionantha that develops determinate leave. To know whether those BOP homologs are functionally conserved in Monophyllaea and Saintpaulia, we determined expression pattern of those homologs, and introduced those homologs under control of the 35S promoter into the bop1/bop2 double mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana. Based on those results, we will also discuss if the indeterminate nature of leaf in the one-leaf plants is attributable to loss (or change) of function of the BOP genes.
