LMI1 homeodomain protein regulates organ proportions by spatial modulation of endoreduplication

Abstract

How the interplay between cell- and tissue-level processes produces correctly proportioned organs is a key problem in biology. In plants, the relative size of leaves compared with their lateral appendages, called stipules, varies tremendously throughout development and evolution, yet relevant mechanisms remain unknown. Here we use genetics, live imaging, and modeling to show that in <i>Arabidopsis</i> leaves<i>,</i> the LATE MERISTEM IDENTITY1 (LMI1) homeodomain protein regulates stipule proportions via an endoreduplication-dependent trade-off that limits tissue size despite increasing cell growth. LM1 acts through directly activating the conserved mitosis blocker <i>WEE1</i>, which is sufficient to bypass the <i>LMI1</i> requirement for leaf proportionality.