Nature 425, 257 - 263 (18 September 2003); doi:10.1038/nature01958
Nature AOP, published online 20 August 2003
Control of leaf morphogenesis by microRNAs
JAVIER F. PALATNIK1,2, EDWARDS ALLEN3, XUELIN WU2,*, CARLA SCHOMMER1,*, REBECCA SCHWAB1,*, JAMES C. CARRINGTON3 & DETLEF WEIGEL1,2
1 Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany
2 Plant Biology Laboratory, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California 92037, USA
3 Center for Gene Research and Biotechnology and Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA
* These authors contributed equally to this work
Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to D.W. (weigel@weigelworld.org) or J.C.C. (carrington@orst.edu).
Plants with altered microRNA metabolism have pleiotropic developmental defects, but direct evidence for microRNAs regulating specific aspects of plant morphogenesis has been lacking. In a genetic screen, we identified the JAW locus, which produces a microRNA that can guide messenger RNA cleavage of several TCP genes controlling leaf development. MicroRNA-guided cleavage of TCP4 mRNA is necessary to prevent aberrant activity of the TCP4 gene expressed from its native promoter. In addition, overexpression of wild-type and microRNA-resistant TCP variants demonstrates that mRNA cleavage is largely sufficient to restrict TCP function to its normal domain of activity. TCP genes with microRNA target sequences are found in a wide range of species, indicating that microRNA-mediated control of leaf morphogenesis is conserved in plants with very different leaf forms.
