Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Kearneysville, West Virginia » Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory » Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #377577
Research Project: Improving Fruit Crop Traits Through Advanced Genomic, Breeding, and Management Technologies

Location: Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection

Title: The roles of the IGT/LAZY gene family in plant architecture: past, present, and future

Author
item Waite, Jessica
item Dardick, Christopher - Chris

Submitted to: Current Opinion in Plant Biology
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/2/2020
Publication Date: 2/20/2021
Citation: Waite, J.M., Dardick, C.D. 2021. The roles of the IGT/LAZY gene family in plant architecture: past, present, and future. Current Opinion in Plant Biology. 59:101983. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbi.2020.101983.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbi.2020.101983

Interpretive Summary: The shape, size, number, and angle of plant organs, collectively referred to as plant architecture, has been a target for agricultural improvement for centuries. The IGT/LAZY gene family has been identified as crucial for controlling the angle of plant organs. Here we collected and summarized the work done on different members of the IGT/LAZY gene family, performed sequence analyses to explore how these genes evolved in land plants, demonstrated that these genes fall in to three clearly distinct groups, and suggested a naming convention for these genes in future studies. Lastly, we discuss IGT/LAZY gene roles in domestication of crops, their use in targeted genetic improvement, and highlight their potential usefulness for future breeding.

Technical Abstract: Genetic improvement of architectural traits offers tremendous opportunities to dramatically improve crop densities, productivity, and ultimately sustainability. Among these, the orientation, or gravitropic set point angle (GSA), of plant organs is critical to optimize crop profiles, light capture, and nutrient acquisition. Mutant GSA phenotypes have been studied in plants since the 1930’s but only recently have the underlying genes been identified. Many of these genes have turned out to fall within the IGT/LAZY family, which initially was not previously recognized due to the lack of sequence conservation of homologous genes across species. Here we discuss recent progress on IGT/LAZY family genes in various plant species over the past century, review possible functional mechanisms, and provide further analysis of their evolution in land plants and their past and future roles in crop domestication.