Pine gene makes poplar branches upright, but not the reverse
Nguyen TTT, Choi NY, Kim MH, Choi H, Kim DG
Crispr
The difference between a tree that grows narrow and upright versus one that spreads wide comes down to genetic switches like this one, which orchard breeders and city foresters increasingly manipulate to fit trees into tight spaces.
Trees have genes that control whether their branches point up or spread out sideways, and scientists wanted to know how one type of gene (found in pines) evolved into a different type (found in poplars) over millions of years. They took the pine version, deleted a piece scientists suspected was the key evolutionary change, and put it into poplar trees to see what happened. The modified gene stopped working like the upright-branch gene, but it also didn't start working like the wide-branch gene, meaning more genetic changes than expected were needed to make that evolutionary leap.
Key Findings
PdeLAZY1 (a gymnosperm gene from Pinus densiflora) significantly reduced petiole angle in wild-type poplar, confirming it promotes upright growth even in a distantly related plant
Deleting Domain V from PdeLAZY1 abolished its upright-growth activity and instead significantly increased petiole angle
The Domain V-deleted variant failed to complement (rescue) a tac1 mutant poplar, showing loss of Domain V alone is not sufficient to recreate TAC1 gene function
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists tested a gene-editing hypothesis about how trees evolved upright versus spreading branch shapes, using a pine gene inserted into poplar trees. The gene worked as expected to make branches grow more upright, but removing a key piece didn't turn it into the opposite 'wide-branching' gene as predicted, showing that tree branch angle evolution is more complicated than one simple genetic switch.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
The evolutionary path to wide angles: Domain V is required for LAZY1 function, but its loss alone does not confer TAC1-like activity in poplar.
When ectopically expressed in hybrid poplar, the gymnosperm protein PdeLAZY1 confers LAZY1-like activity, whereas deletion of Domain V abolishes this activity without conferring TAC1-like function....
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Pinus densiflora, also called the Japanese red pine, the Japanese pine, or Korean red pine, is a species of pine tree native to East Asia and Siberia.