Morphogenesis of simple leaves: regulation of leaf size and shape

RODRIGUEZ VIRASORO, RAMIRO ESTEBAN; DEBERNARDI, JUAN MANUEL; PALATNIK, JAVIER F

Wiley Interdiscip Rev Dev Biol

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Año: 2014 vol. 3 p. 1 - 17

1759-7684

Plants produce new organs throughout their life span. Leaves first initiate as rodlikestructures protruding from the shoot apical meristem, while they need to passthrough different developmental stages to become the flat organ specialized inphotosynthesis. Leaf morphogenesis is an active process regulated by many genesand pathways that can generate organs with a wide variety of sizes and shapes.Important differences in leaf architecture can be seen among different species,but also in single individuals. A key aspect of leaf morphogenesis is the precisecontrol of cell proliferation. Modification or manipulation of this process maylead to leaves with different sizes and shapes, and changes in the organ marginsand curvature. Many genes required for leaf development have been identifiedin Arabidopsis thaliana, and the mechanisms underlying leaf morphogenesis arestarting to be unraveled at the molecular level.