SCALE · Evolution of organ size scaling in plants
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2022-01-01 → 2023-12-31
- EU contribution
- €203,852
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Evolution of organ size scaling in plants
The phenomenon of allometric scaling, which maintains consistent size relationships among different organs within a species, is widespread in biology. However, during evolution, morphological scaling relationships among organs can be modified, leading to the emergence of new relationships. Understanding how allometry is maintained and evolves at the molecular level remains a challenge, despite its importance in deciphering how the size of specific organs is controlled. This research aimed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms governing the expression of a general growth regulator and its implications for organ development. The SCALE project sought to identify crucial regulatory sequences that determine the expression of such a gene. Subsequently, it investigated the proteins interacting with these sequences and their influence on the expression pattern of the general growth regulator in different organs. Finally, the project aimed to determine how changes in regulatory sequences can affect gene expression in specific organs. Through this project, we aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the regulatory architecture of general growth regulators and underscore important molecular concepts for manipulating the size of specific organs. SCALE demonstrated that a key general growth regulator is regulated by identical hormonal signals in all organs, thereby ensuring the maintenance of allometry between organs. Additionally, SCALE results strongly suggested that the expression pattern of this gene within developing organs depends on the presence of regulatory proteins that render cells sensitive to hormones, and how identity can modulate the expression of such genes, providing a means to modify allometric scaling among organ size.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
One of the most pervasive laws in biology is the maintenance of the relationship between organ sizes among individuals, populations and/or species. The existence of such allometric scaling, together with the fact that most of the organ growth regulators are pleiotropic, suggests that the same genes are controlling the size of different organs. Yet, in many instances during evolution, the morphological scaling relationship among organs has been modified and new relationships have evolved. How allometry is maintained and evolve at the molecular level is, however, poorly understood. It is equally unclear how identity factors influence growth processes in different organs. We hypothesise that organ identity factors quantitatively modulate the expression of general growth regulators through chromatin-based mechanisms that modify their sensitivity to hormonal signals. I will test this hypothesis by studying the molecular basis of one prominent example of allometric scaling evolution in plants, the decrease in flower size after the transition to selfing, using a combination of genomics, molecular genetics and cell biology approaches. This work will determine how organ growth is affected, spatially and temporally, by organ identity and highlight the molecular mechanisms quantitatively regulating the transcription of general growth regulators, determining the size of different organs.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- SVERIGES LANTBRUKSUNIVERSITET · UppsalaCoordinatorSweden
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union