The tomato Blind gene encodes a MYB transcription factor that controls the formation of lateral meristems

doi:10.1073/pnas.022516199

The tomato Blind gene encodes a MYB transcription factor that controls the formation of lateral meristems

^*Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Carl-von-Linné-Weg 10, D-50829 Cologne, Germany; ^†Institute for Genetics, University of Cologne, Weyertal 121, D-50931 Cologne, Germany; and ^‡Metapontum Agrobios, S.S. Jonica 106 KM 448.2, 75010 Metaponto, Italy

Edited by Maarten Koornneef, Wageningen Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands, and approved November 28, 2001 (received for review October 1, 2001)

Abstract

The multitude of forms observed in flowering plants is largely because of their ability to establish new axes of growth during postembryonic development. This process is initiated by the formation of secondary meristems that develop into vegetative or reproductive branches. In the blind and torosa mutants of tomato, initiation of lateral meristems is blocked during shoot and inflorescence development, leading to a strong reduction in the number of lateral axes. In this study, it is shown that blind and torosa are allelic. The Blind gene has been isolated by positional cloning, and it was found that the mutant phenotype is caused by a loss of function of an R2R3 class Myb gene. RNA interference-induced blind phenocopies confirmed the identity of the isolated gene. Double mutant analysis shows that Blind acts in a novel pathway different from the one to which the previously identified Lateral suppressor gene belongs. The findings reported add a new class of transcription factors to the group of genes controlling lateral meristem initiation and reveal a previously uncharacterized function of R2R3 Myb genes.

Footnotes

↵ § To whom reprint requests should be addressed. E-mail: theres{at}mpiz-koeln.mpg.de.
This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the PNAS office.
Data deposition: The sequence reported in this paper has been deposited in the GenBank database (accession no. AF426174).
Abbreviations:

SAM,

shoot apical meristem;

RFLP,

restriction fragment length polymorphism;

YAC,

yeast artificial chromosome;

CAPS,

cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence;

RT,

reverse transcription;

RACE,

rapid amplification of cDNA ends;

RNAi,

RNA interference