Leaf margin morphology is an important quality trait affecting the commodity and environmental adaptability of crops. Brassica rapa is an ideal research material for exploring the molecular mechanisms underlying leaf lobe development. Here, we identified BrrA02.LMI1 to be a promising gene underlying the QTL qBrrLLA02 controlling leaf lobe formation in B. rapa, which was detected in our previous study. Sequence comparison analysis showed that the promoter divergences were the most obvious variations of BrrA02.LMI1 between parental lines. The higher expression level and promoter activity of BrrA02.LMI1 in the lobe-leafed parent indicated that promoter variations of BrrA02.LMI1 were responsible for elevating expression and ultimately causing different allele effects. Histochemical GUS staining indicated that BrrA02.LMI1 is mainly expressed at the leaf margin, with the highest expression at the tip of each lobe. Subcellular localization results showed that BrrA02.LMI1 was in the nucleus. The ectopic expression of BrrA02.LMI1 in A. thaliana resulted in a deep leaf lobe in the wild-type plants, and lobed leaf formation was disturbed in BrrA02.LMI11-downregulated plants. Our findings revealed that BrrA02.LMI1 plays a vital role in regulating the formation of lobed leaves, providing a theoretical basis for the selection and breeding of leaf-shape-diverse varieties of B. rapa.
Keywords: Brassica rapa; LMI1-like; functional identification; leaf lobe; transformation.