%0 Journal Article %A Ryan Andres %A Viktoriya Coneva %A Margaret H. Frank %A John R. Tuttle %A Sang-Won Han %A Luis Fernando Samayoa %A Baljinder Kaur %A Linglong Zhu %A Hui Fang %A Daryl Bowman %A Marcela Rojas-Pierce %A Candace H. Haigler %A Don C. Jones %A James B. Holland %A Daniel H. Chitwood %A Vasu Kuraparthy %T Modifications to a LATE MERISTEM IDENTITY-1 gene are responsible for the major leaf shapes of Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) %D 2016 %R 10.1101/062612 %J bioRxiv %P 062612 %X Manipulation of cotton canopy architecture offers the potential to maximize yield while minimizing inputs. Here we show that the major leaf shapes of cotton at the L-D1 locus are controlled by a Late Meristem Identity1-D1b (GhLMI1-D1b) gene which encodes a HD-Zip transcription factor. Okra leaf GhLMI1-D1b has a 133-bp tandem duplication in the promoter, correlated with elevated expression, while an 8-bp deletion in the third exon of normal leaf GhLMI1-D1b causes a frame-shifted and truncated coding sequence. Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) of GhLMI1-D1b in an okra variety was sufficient to induce normal leaf formation. An intermediate leaf shape allele, sub-okra, lacks both the promoter duplication and the exonic deletion. Our results indicate that sub-okra is the ancestral leaf shape of tetraploid cotton and normal is a derived mutant allele that came to predominate and define the leaf shape of cultivated cotton. %U https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/07/07/062612.full.pdf