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First published online 14 July 2004
doi: 10.1242/dev.01262

Development 131, 3921-3929 (2004)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2004
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The establishment of axial patterning in the maize leaf

Toshi Foster1,*,{dagger}, Angela Hay2,*, Robyn Johnston3 and Sarah Hake4

1 The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand, Private Bag 11 030, Palmerston North, New Zealand
2 Department of Plant Sciences, Oxford University, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3RB, UK
3 Institute of Molecular BioSciences, Massey University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North, New Zealand
4 Plant Gene Expression Center, 800 Buchanan Street, Albany, CA 94710, USA

{dagger} Author for correspondence (e-mail: tfoster{at}hortresearch.co.nz)

Accepted 11 May 2004

The maize leaf consists of four distinct tissues along its proximodistal axis: sheath, ligule, auricle and blade. liguleless1 (lg1) functions cell autonomously to specify ligule and auricle, and may propagate a signal that correctly positions the blade-sheath boundary. The dominant Wavy auricle in blade (Wab1) mutation disrupts both the mediolateral and proximodistal axes of the maize leaf. Wab1 leaf blades are narrow and ectopic auricle and sheath extend into the blade. The recessive lg1-R mutation exacerbates the Wab1 phenotype; in the double mutants, most of the proximal blade is deleted and sheath tissue extends along the residual blade. We show that lg1 is misexpressed in Wab1 leaves. Our results suggest that the Wab1 defect is partially compensated for by lg1 expression. A mosaic analysis of Wab1 was conducted in Lg1+ and lg1-R backgrounds to determine if Wab1 affects leaf development in a cell-autonomous manner. Normal tissue identity was restored in all wab1+/– sectors in a lg1-R mutant background, and in three quarters of sectors in a Lg1+ background. These results suggest that lg1 can influence the autonomy of Wab1. In both genotypes, leaf-halves with wab1+/– sectors were significantly wider than non-sectored leaf-halves, suggesting that Wab1 acts cell-autonomously to affect lateral growth. The mosaic analysis, lg1 expression data and comparison of mutant leaf shapes reveal previously unreported functions of lg1 in both normal leaf development and in the dominant Wab1 mutant.

Key words: Maize, liguleless1, Wavy auricle in blade1, Leaf development, Axial patterning, Mosaic analysis, Cell autonomy






© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2004