Leafy

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LEAFY (abbreviated LFY) is a plant gene that causes groups of undifferentiated cells called meristems to develop into flowers instead of leaves with associated shoots. [1]

LEAFY is involved in floral meristem identity.

LEAFY encodes a plant-specific transcription factor, is found in all land plants and in charophytes [2] and one of its exons have been used extensively in phylogenetic work on spermatophytes. [3] When the gene is overexpressed, the plant is less sensitive to environmental signals and flowers earlier. [4]

The LEAFY protein has two conserved domains: the DNA binding domain, a Helix-Turn-Helix motif buried inside a unique 7-helix fold [5] and a Sterile Alpha Motif. [6] It binds DNA as a dimer and its binding site has been identified both in vivo and in vitro. [7] [8] The F-box protein Unusual Floral Organs (UFO) is able to redirect LFY to binding sites that LFY cannot access alone and, together, they regulate genes involved in petal and stamen development (such as APETALA3, PISTILLATA or RABBIT EARS). [9] [10]

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References

  1. ↑ Weigel D, Alvarez J, Smyth DR, Yanofsky MF, Meyerowitz EM (1992). "LEAFY controls floral meristem identity in Arabidopsis" (PDF). Cell. 69 (5): 843–859. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90295-N . PMID   1350515.
  2. ↑ Sayou, Camille; Monniaux, Marie; Nanao, Max H.; Moyroud, Edwige; Brockington, Samuel F.; Thévenon, Emmanuel; Chahtane, Hicham; Warthmann, Norman; Melkonian, Michael (2014-02-07). "A promiscuous intermediate underlies the evolution of LEAFY DNA binding specificity". Science. 343 (6171): 645–648. Bibcode:2014Sci...343..645S. doi:10.1126/science.1248229. hdl: 1885/64773 . ISSN   1095-9203. PMID   24436181. S2CID   207778924.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. ↑ Peter M. Hollingsworth; Richard M. Bateman; R. J. Gornall (1999). Molecular Systematics and Plant Evolution. CRC Press. p. 242. ISBN   978-0-7484-0908-2.
  4. ↑ Weigel D, Nilsson O (1995). "A developmental switch sufficient for flower initiation in diverse plants". Nature. 377 (6549): 495–500. Bibcode:1995Natur.377..495W. doi:10.1038/377495a0. PMID   7566146. S2CID   4346606.
  5. ↑ Hamès, Cécile; Ptchelkine, Denis; Grimm, Clemens; Thevenon, Emmanuel; Moyroud, Edwige; Gérard, Francine; Martiel, Jean-Louis; Benlloch, Reyes; Parcy, François (2008-10-08). "Structural basis for LEAFY floral switch function and similarity with helix-turn-helix proteins". The EMBO Journal. 27 (19): 2628–2637. doi:10.1038/emboj.2008.184. ISSN   1460-2075. PMC   2567413 . PMID   18784751.
  6. ↑ Sayou, Camille; Nanao, Max H.; Jamin, Marc; Posé, David; Thévenon, Emmanuel; Grégoire, Laura; Tichtinsky, Gabrielle; Denay, Grégoire; Ott, Felix (2016-04-21). "A SAM oligomerization domain shapes the genomic binding landscape of the LEAFY transcription factor". Nature Communications. 7: 11222. Bibcode:2016NatCo...711222S. doi:10.1038/ncomms11222. ISSN   2041-1723. PMC   4844672 . PMID   27097556.
  7. ↑ Moyroud, Edwige; Minguet, Eugenio Gómez; Ott, Felix; Yant, Levi; Posé, David; Monniaux, Marie; Blanchet, Sandrine; Bastien, Olivier; Thévenon, Emmanuel (2011-04-01). "Prediction of regulatory interactions from genome sequences using a biophysical model for the Arabidopsis LEAFY transcription factor". The Plant Cell. 23 (4): 1293–1306. doi:10.1105/tpc.111.083329. ISSN   1532-298X. PMC   3101549 . PMID   21515819.
  8. ↑ Winter, Cara M.; Austin, Ryan S.; Blanvillain-Baufumé, Servane; Reback, Maxwell A.; Monniaux, Marie; Wu, Miin-Feng; Sang, Yi; Yamaguchi, Ayako; Yamaguchi, Nobutoshi (2011-04-19). "LEAFY target genes reveal floral regulatory logic, cis motifs, and a link to biotic stimulus response". Developmental Cell. 20 (4): 430–443. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2011.03.019 . ISSN   1878-1551. PMID   21497757.
  9. ↑ Rieu, Philippe; Turchi, Laura; Thévenon, Emmanuel; Zarkadas, Eleftherios; Nanao, Max; Chahtane, Hicham; Tichtinsky, Gabrielle; Lucas, Jérémy; Blanc-Mathieu, Romain; Zubieta, Chloe; Schoehn, Guy; Parcy, François (2023-02-02). "The F-box protein UFO controls flower development by redirecting the master transcription factor LEAFY to new cis-elements" (PDF). Nature Plants. 9 (2): 315–329. doi:10.1038/s41477-022-01336-2. ISSN   2055-0278. PMID   36732360. S2CID   256545937.
  10. ↑ Samach, Alon, Jennifer E. Klenz, Susanne E. Kohalmi, Eddy Risseeuw, George W. Haughn, and William L. Crosby (1999). "The UNUSUAL FLORAL ORGANS gene of Arabidopsis thaliana is an F-box protein required for normal patterning and growth in the floral meristem". The Plant Journal. 20 (4): 433–445. doi:10.1046/j.1365-313x.1999.00617.x. PMID   10607296.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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