HEADLESS Regulates Auxin Response and Compound Leaf Morphogenesis in Medicago truncatula

• Main Authors: Hongfeng Wang, Yiteng Xu, Limei Hong, Xue Zhang, Xiao Wang, Jing Zhang, Zhaojun Ding, Zhe Meng, Zeng-Yu Wang, Ruicai Long, Qingchuan Yang, Fanjiang Kong, Lu Han, Chuanen Zhou
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2019-08-01
• Series: Frontiers in Plant Science
• Subjects: Medicago truncatula; WUSCHEL; SAM maintenance; smooth leaf margin1 (SLM1); auxin response; compound leaf
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpls.2019.01024/full

WUSCHEL (WUS) is thought to be required for the establishment of the shoot stem cell niche in Arabidopsis thaliana. HEADLESS (HDL), a gene that encodes a WUS-related homeobox family transcription factor, is thought to be the Medicago truncatula ortholog of the WUS gene. HDL plays conserved roles in shoot apical meristem (SAM) and axillary meristem (AM) maintenance. HDL is also involved in compound leaf morphogenesis in M. truncatula; however, its regulatory mechanism has not yet been explored. Here, the significance of HDL in leaf development was investigated. Unlike WUS in A. thaliana, HDL was transcribed not only in the SAM and AM but also in the leaf. Both the patterning of the compound leaves and the shape of the leaf margin in hdl mutant were abnormal. The transcriptional profile of the gene SLM1, which encodes an auxin efflux carrier, was impaired and the plants’ auxin response was compromised. Further investigations revealed that HDL positively regulated auxin response likely through the recruitment of MtTPL/MtTPRs into the HDL repressor complex. Its participation in auxin-dependent compound leaf morphogenesis is of interest in the context of the functional conservation and neo-functionalization of the products of WUS orthologs.