Molecular and functional dissection of LIGULELESS1 (LG1) in plants

Lei Qin; Xintong Wu; Hang Zhao

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1190004

Molecular and functional dissection of LIGULELESS1 (LG1) in plants

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Jun 12:14:1190004. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1190004. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Lei Qin^{1

2}, Xintong Wu¹, Hang Zhao¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Life Sciences, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Agronomic Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, China.

Abstract

Plant architecture is a culmination of the features necessary for capturing light energy and adapting to the environment. An ideal architecture can promote an increase in planting density, light penetration to the lower canopy, airflow as well as heat distribution to achieve an increase in crop yield. A number of plant architecture-related genes have been identified by map cloning, quantitative trait locus (QTL) and genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis. LIGULELESS1 (LG1) belongs to the squamosa promoter-binding protein (SBP) family of transcription factors (TFs) that are key regulators for plant growth and development, especially leaf angle (LA) and flower development. The DRL1/2-LG1-RAVL pathway is involved in brassinosteroid (BR) signaling to regulate the LA in maize, which has facilitated the regulation of plant architecture. Therefore, exploring the gene regulatory functions of LG1, especially its relationship with LA genes, can help achieve the precise regulation of plant phenotypes adapted to varied environments, thereby increasing the yield. This review comprehensively summarizes the advances in LG1 research, including its effect on LA and flower development. Finally, we discuss the current challenges and future research goals associate with LG1.

Keywords: LG1; SBP; flower development; leaf angle; plant architecture.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32201762), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2022QC003), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2022M723460).