Leafy

{{Short description|Plant gene}}

{{for-multi|the American religious leader|Leafy Anderson|the Barmy Army co-founder|Paul Burnham|the online personality terminated from YouTube|LeafyIsHere}}

LEAFY (abbreviated LFY) is a plant gene that causes groups of undifferentiated cells called meristems to develop into flowers instead of leaves with associated shoots.{{cite journal |last1=Weigel |first1=Detlef |last2=Alvarez |first2=John |last3=Smyth |first3=David R. |last4=Yanofsky |first4=Martin F. |last5=Meyerowitz |first5=Elliot M. |title=LEAFY controls floral meristem identity in Arabidopsis |journal=Cell |date=May 1992 |volume=69 |issue=5 |pages=843–859 |doi=10.1016/0092-8674(92)90295-N |pmid=1350515 |doi-access=free |url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/72838/1/1-s2.0-009286749290295N-main.pdf }}

LEAFY is involved in floral meristem identity.

LEAFY encodes a plant-specific transcription factor, is found in all land plants and in charophytes{{Cite journal |last1=Sayou |first1=Camille |last2=Monniaux |first2=Marie |last3=Nanao |first3=Max H. |last4=Moyroud |first4=Edwige |last5=Brockington |first5=Samuel F. |last6=Thévenon |first6=Emmanuel |last7=Chahtane |first7=Hicham |last8=Warthmann |first8=Norman |last9=Melkonian |first9=Michael |date=2014-02-07 |title=A promiscuous intermediate underlies the evolution of LEAFY DNA binding specificity |journal=Science |volume=343 |issue=6171 |pages=645–648 |doi=10.1126/science.1248229 |issn=1095-9203 |pmid=24436181 |bibcode=2014Sci...343..645S |hdl=1885/64773 |s2cid=207778924 |hdl-access=free }} and one of its exons have been used extensively in phylogenetic work on spermatophytes.{{Cite book |title=Molecular Systematics and Plant Evolution |first1=Peter M. |last1=Hollingsworth |first2=Richard M. |last2=Bateman |first3=R. J. |last3=Gornall |publisher=CRC Press |year=1999 |page=242 |isbn=978-0-7484-0908-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SVKN8V1cGg4C&pg=PP1}} When the gene is overexpressed, the plant is less sensitive to environmental signals and flowers earlier.{{cite journal |last1=Weigel |first1=Detlef |last2=Nilsson |first2=Ove |title=A developmental switch sufficient for flower initiation in diverse plants |journal=Nature |date=October 1995 |volume=377 |issue=6549 |pages=495–500 |doi=10.1038/377495a0 |pmid=7566146 |bibcode=1995Natur.377..495W |s2cid=4346606 }}

The LEAFY protein has two conserved domains: the DNA binding domain, a helix-turn-helix motif buried inside a unique 7-helix fold{{Cite journal |last1=Hamès |first1=Cécile |last2=Ptchelkine |first2=Denis |last3=Grimm |first3=Clemens |last4=Thevenon |first4=Emmanuel |last5=Moyroud |first5=Edwige |last6=Gérard |first6=Francine |last7=Martiel |first7=Jean-Louis |last8=Benlloch |first8=Reyes |last9=Parcy |first9=François |date=2008-10-08 |title=Structural basis for LEAFY floral switch function and similarity with helix-turn-helix proteins |journal=The EMBO Journal |volume=27 |issue=19 |pages=2628–2637 |doi=10.1038/emboj.2008.184 |issn=1460-2075 |pmc=2567413 |pmid=18784751}} and a Sterile Alpha Motif.{{Cite journal |last1=Sayou |first1=Camille |last2=Nanao |first2=Max H. |last3=Jamin |first3=Marc |last4=Posé |first4=David |last5=Thévenon |first5=Emmanuel |last6=Grégoire |first6=Laura |last7=Tichtinsky |first7=Gabrielle |last8=Denay |first8=Grégoire |last9=Ott |first9=Felix |date=2016-04-21 |title=A SAM oligomerization domain shapes the genomic binding landscape of the LEAFY transcription factor |journal=Nature Communications |volume=7 |pages=11222 |doi=10.1038/ncomms11222 |issn=2041-1723 |pmc=4844672 |pmid=27097556|bibcode=2016NatCo...711222S }} It binds DNA as a dimer and its binding site has been identified both in vivo and in vitro.{{Cite journal |last1=Moyroud |first1=Edwige |last2=Minguet |first2=Eugenio Gómez |last3=Ott |first3=Felix |last4=Yant |first4=Levi |last5=Posé |first5=David |last6=Monniaux |first6=Marie |last7=Blanchet |first7=Sandrine |last8=Bastien |first8=Olivier |last9=Thévenon |first9=Emmanuel |date=2011-04-01 |title=Prediction of regulatory interactions from genome sequences using a biophysical model for the Arabidopsis LEAFY transcription factor |journal=The Plant Cell |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=1293–1306 |doi=10.1105/tpc.111.083329 |issn=1532-298X |pmc=3101549 |pmid=21515819}}{{Cite journal |last1=Winter |first1=Cara M. |last2=Austin |first2=Ryan S. |last3=Blanvillain-Baufumé |first3=Servane |last4=Reback |first4=Maxwell A. |last5=Monniaux |first5=Marie |last6=Wu |first6=Miin-Feng |last7=Sang |first7=Yi |last8=Yamaguchi |first8=Ayako |last9=Yamaguchi |first9=Nobutoshi |date=2011-04-19 |title=LEAFY target genes reveal floral regulatory logic, cis motifs, and a link to biotic stimulus response |journal=Developmental Cell |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=430–443 |doi=10.1016/j.devcel.2011.03.019 |issn=1878-1551 |pmid=21497757|doi-access=free}} The F-box protein Unusual Floral Organs (UFO) is able to redirect LFY to binding sites that LFY cannot access alone and, together, they regulate genes involved in petal and stamen development (such as APETALA3, PISTILLATA or RABBIT EARS).{{Cite journal |last1=Rieu |first1=Philippe |last2=Turchi |first2=Laura |last3=Thévenon |first3=Emmanuel |last4=Zarkadas |first4=Eleftherios |last5=Nanao |first5=Max |last6=Chahtane |first6=Hicham |last7=Tichtinsky |first7=Gabrielle |last8=Lucas |first8=Jérémy |last9=Blanc-Mathieu |first9=Romain |last10=Zubieta |first10=Chloe |last11=Schoehn |first11=Guy |last12=Parcy |first12=François |date=2023-02-02 |title=The F-box protein UFO controls flower development by redirecting the master transcription factor LEAFY to new cis-elements |url=https://cnrs.hal.science/hal-03993820/file/NP_manuscript.pdf |journal=Nature Plants |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=315–329 |language=en |doi=10.1038/s41477-022-01336-2 |pmid=36732360 |s2cid=256545937 |issn=2055-0278}}{{cite journal |last1=Samach |first1=Alon |last2=Klenz |first2=Jennifer E. |last3=Kohalmi |first3=Susanne E. |last4=Risseeuw |first4=Eddy |last5=Haughn |first5=George W. |last6=Crosby |first6=William L. |title=The UNUSUAL FLORAL ORGANS gene of Arabidopsis thaliana is an F‐box protein required for normal patterning and growth in the floral meristem |journal=The Plant Journal |date=November 1999 |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=433–445 |doi=10.1046/j.1365-313x.1999.00617.x |pmid=10607296}}