Class I KNOX expression in developing leaves of Mickelia scandens (Dryopteridaceae)

• Grant number: 15/15920-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: February 15, 2016
• End date: February 14, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany
• Principal Investigator: Gladys Flávia de Albuquerque Melo de Pinna
• Grantee: Rafael da Silva Cruz
• Supervisor: Barbara A. Ambrose
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: New York Botanical Garden (NYBG), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 13/26191-7 - Leaf development in Dryopteridaceae species under the morphological approach of Agnes Arber, BP.DR

Abstract

In a typical vascular plant with simple leaves, KNOX genes are involved in the specification and maintenance of indeterminate identity in the shoot apical meristem (SAM), so these genes does not express in leaf primordia. Otherwise, in some compound-leaved plants, included some ferns, but with important exceptions (e.g. legumes), there is Class I KNOX expression in leaf primordia resembling the activity of the SAM. Mickelia scandens is a hemiepiphytic bolbitidoid fern with pinnate fronds, much larger in the climbing part of rhizome than in the terrestrial part, also presenting reduced pinnae in the fertile fronds. More studies, mainly related to Class I KNOX genes responsible for growth determinacy control, may provide important data about the determinacy of the frond and better clarify differences between the climbing and terrestrial forms of fronds. We collected shoot apexes and fiddleheads in many stages in RNA later (for RNA extraction) and in FAA 50 (for in situ hybridization). The project will entail RNA extractions, degenerate PCR amplifications, cloning, colony PCR, DNA extractions, sequencing, probe generation, probe labeling, sectioning and mounting on probe on plus slides, and in situ hybridizations. We aim to identify and characterize the expression of Class I KNOX genes in tissues and cells during the leaf development of Mickelia scandens by means of in situ hybridization experiments. Then after, we will compare the expression of these genes responsible for determinacy in more determinate leaves (terrestrial small leaves) and less determinate leaves (epiphytic big leaves) and discuss the results with data that are currently being produced by our collaborators from simple leaved Elaphoglossum spp. regarding gene expression. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

CRUZ, RAFAEL; MELO-DE-PINNA, GLADYS F. A.; VASCO, ALEJANDRA; PRADO, JEFFERSON; AMBROSE, BARBARA A.. Class I KNOXIs Related to Determinacy during the Leaf Development of the FernMickelia scandens(Dryopteridaceae). INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES, v. 21, n. 12, JUN 2020. (13/26191-7, 15/15158-4, 15/15920-3)

CRUZ, RAFAEL; MELO-DE-PINNA, GLADYS F. A.; VASCO, ALEJANDRA; PRADO, JEFFERSON; AMBROSE, BARBARA A.. Class I KNOX Is Related to Determinacy during the Leaf Development of the Fern Mickelia scandens (Dryopteridaceae). INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES, v. 21, n. 12, p. 13-pg., 2020-06-01. (15/15920-3, 15/15158-4, 13/26191-7)