Heterochrony underpins natural variation in Cardamine hirsuta leaf form.
A key problem in biology is whether the same processes underlie morphological variation between and within species. Here, by using plant leaves as an example, we show that the causes of diversity at these two evolutionary scales can be divergent. Some species like the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana have simple leaves, whereas others like the A. thaliana relative Cardamine hirsuta bear complex leaves comprising leaflets. Previous work has shown that these interspecific differences result mostly from variation in local tissue growth and patterning. Now, by cloning and characterizing a quantitative trait locus (QTL) for C. hirsuta leaf shape, we find that a different process, age-dependent progression of leaf form, underlies variation in this trait within species. This QTL effect is caused by cis-regulatory variation in the floral repressor ChFLC, such that genotypes with low-expressing ChFLC alleles show both early flowering and accelerated age-dependent changes in leaf form, including faster leaflet production. We provide evidence that this mechanism coordinates leaf development with reproductive timing and may help to optimize resource allocation to the next generation.
['Cartolano|Maria|M|', 'Pieper|Bjorn|B|', 'Lempe|Janne|J|', 'Tattersall|Alex|A|', 'Huijser|Peter|P|', 'Tresch|Achim|A|', 'Darrah|Peter R|PR|', 'Hay|Angela|A|', 'Tsiantis|Miltos|M|']
D000483:Alleles D017360:Arabidopsis D001483:Base Sequence D044822:Biodiversity D031217:Cardamine D002874:Chromosome Mapping D003001:Cloning, Molecular D035264:Flowers D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant D005838:Genotype D008027:Light D008957:Models, Genetic D008969:Molecular Sequence Data D010641:Phenotype D018515:Plant Leaves D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci D012639:Seeds D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
heterochrony natural variation Cardamine hirsuta Flowering Locus C compound leaf