New components in genetic regulation of age‐dependent compound leaf architecture in pea
Jacqueline K. Vander Schoor, Chantelle J. Beagley, Warwick Gill, Grégoire Aubert, Judith Burstin, Robert J. E. Wiltshire, Valérie Hecht, James L. WellerSummary
Pea (
Pisum sativum
L.) is a classic model for compound leaf development. Pea leaves typically consist of a proximal series of paired lateral leaflets substituted distally by filiform tendrils, and the number of lateral organ pairs increases with ontogeny. This gradient has been proposed as an expression of heteroblasty, but no clear links with known leaf‐development pathways have been demonstrated to date.
We explored potential links between lateral organ number, heteroblasty and flowering time in pea using natural and induced genetic variation, and characterize four distinct loci regulating compound leaf architecture through genetic and molecular analyses.
Two previously described
AEROMACULATA
(
AERO
) loci
AERO1
and
AERO2
are identified as putative orthologs of
Arabidopsis
chromatin modifiers
CURLY LEAF
and
PICKLE
, and two novel loci
EXTRA PINNA PAIRS 1
(
EPP1
) and
EPP2
as co‐orthologs of the transcriptional adaptor
SEUSS
. These loci interact to influence a range of pleiotropic phenotypes related to meristem function.
AERO
and
EPP
genes controlling lateral organ number in pea leaves have no clear association with leaf complexity or heteroblasty in other systems, and represent new components in regulation of legume compound leaf development.