Promoter variations in a homeobox gene, BrLMI1, contribute to leaf lobe formation in Brassica rapa ssp. chinensis Makino

Abstract Leaves are the main consumed organ in leafy non-heading Chinese cabbage ( Brassica rapa L. ssp. chinensis Makino), and the shape of the leaves is an important economic trait. However, the molecular regulatory mechanism underlying lobed-leaf trait in non-heading Chinese cabbage remains unclear. Here, we identified a stable incompletely dominant major locus qLLA10 for lobed leaves formation in non-heading Chinese cabbage. Based on map-based cloning strategies, BrLMI1 , a LATE MERISTEM IDENTITY1 ( LMI1 )-like gene, was predicted as the candidate gene for qLLA10. Genotyping analysis showed that promoter variations of BrLMI1 in two parents are responsible for elevating the expression in the lobed-leaf parent and ultimately causing the alternation in leaf shape between the two parents, and the promoter activity of BrLMI1 was significantly affected by the promoter variations. BrLMI1 was exclusively localized in the nucleus and expressed mainly at the tips of each lobe. Leaf lobe development was perturbed in BrLMI1 -silenced plants produced by virus-induced gene silencing assays, and ectopic overexpression of BrLMI1 in Arabidopsis led to deeply lobed leaves never seen in the wild type, which indicates that BrLMI1 is required for leaf lobe formation in non-heading Chinese cabbage. These findings suggested that BrLMI1 is a positive regulatory factor of leaf lobe formation in non-heading Chinese cabbage and that cis-regulatory variations lead to the phenotype of lobed or entire leaf margins, thus providing the theoretical basis for unraveling the molecular mechanism underlying lobed leaves phenotype in Brassica crops.