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Updated: Dec 7, 2025

Investigating Interactions Between Histone Modifying Enzymes and Transcription Factors in vivo by Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer
Published on: October 14, 2022
Plant homeodomain proteins provide a mechanism for how leaves grow wide
Phillip A Conklin1, Robyn Johnston1,2, Brianne R Conlon1
1Plant Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
Abstract:
The mechanisms whereby leaf anlagen undergo proliferative growth and expansion to form wide, flat leaves are unclear. The maize gene NARROWSHEATH1 (NS1) is a WUSCHEL-related homeobox3 (WOX3) homolog expressed at the margins of leaf primordia, and is required for mediolateral outgrowth. To investigate the mechanisms of NS1 function, we used chromatin immunoprecipitation and laser-microdissection RNA-seq of leaf primordial margins to identify gene targets bound and modulated by NS1. Microscopic analyses of cell division and gene expression in expanding leaves, and reverse genetic analyses of homologous NS1 target genes in Arabidopsis, reveal that NS1 controls mediolateral outgrowth by repression of a growth inhibitor and promotion of cell division at primordial leaf margins. Intriguingly, homologous WOX gene products are expressed in stem cell-organizing centers and traffic to adjoining cells to activate stem-cell identity non-autonomously. In contrast, WOX3/NS1 does not traffic, and stimulates cell divisions in the same cells in which it is transcribed.
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