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Article|01 Nov 2020|OPEN
WUSCHEL-related homeobox1 (WOX1) regulates vein patterning and leaf size in Cucumis sativus
Hu Wang1 , Huanhuan Niu1 , Chuang Li1 , Guoyan Shen1 , Xiaofeng Liu2 , Yiqun Weng3 , Tao Wu4 and Zheng Li,1 ,
1State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology in Arid Areas, College of Horticulture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
2Department of Vegetable Sciences, Beijing Key Laboratory of Growth and Developmental Regulation for Protected Vegetable Crops, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
3USDA-ARS, Vegetable Crops Research Unit, Horticulture Department, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
4College of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, Hunan 410128, China
*Corresponding author. E-mail: lizheng82@nwsuaf.edu.cn

Horticulture Research 7,
Article number: 182 (2020)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41438-020-00397-8
Views: 1157

Received: 16 Jul 2020
Revised: 28 Aug 2020
Accepted: 03 Sep 2020
Published online: 01 Nov 2020

Abstract

In plants, WUSCHEL-related homeobox1 (WOX1) homologs promote lamina mediolateral outgrowth. However, the downstream components linking WOX1 and lamina development remain unclear. In this study, we revealed the roles of WOX1 in palmate leaf expansion in cucumber (Cucumis sativus). A cucumber mango fruit (mf) mutant, resulting from truncation of a WOX1-type protein (CsWOX1), displayed abnormal lamina growth and defects in the development of secondary and smaller veins. CsWOX1 was expressed in the middle mesophyll and leaf margins and rescued defects of the Arabidopsis wox1 prs double mutant. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that genes involved in auxin polar transport and auxin response were highly associated with leaf development. Analysis of the cucumber mf rl (round leaf) double mutant revealed that CsWOX1 functioned in vein development via PINOID (CsPID1)-controlled auxin transport. Overexpression of CsWOX1 in cucumber (CsWOX1-OE) affected vein patterning and produced ‘butterfly-shaped’ leaves. CsWOX1 physically interacted with CsTCP4a, which may account for the abnormal lamina development in the mf mutant line and the smaller leaves in the CsWOX1-OE plants. Our findings demonstrated that CsWOX1 regulates cucumber leaf vein development by modulating auxin polar transport; moreover, CsWOX1 regulates leaf size by controlling CIN-TCP genes.