Genome-Wide Analysis of BpYABs and Function Identification Involving in the Leaf and Silique Development in Transgenic Arabidopsis.

YABs play an important role in the leaf development of the paper mulberry () and of the heterophylly. Thus, we investigated the function of BpYABs. Gene cloning, phylogenetic analysis, motif identification, subcellular localization, transactivation activity assay, qRT-PCR, in situ hybridization, and ectopic expression were used in our study. Six s were isolated, and four of them had transcriptional activity. BpYAB1, BpYAB3, BpYAB4, and BpYAB5 were localized to the nucleus. was only expressed in the flower, while was not expressed in any detected tissues; the four remaining s were expressed in the bud, leaf and flower, and their expression level decreased with leaf development. Further in situ hybridization showed that and were expressed in the vascular tissues and lamina, but neither showed the adaxial-abaxial polarity distribution pattern in the mature leaf lamina. Ectopic expression of , , and induced increased expression of and caused the leaf of Arabidopsis to become smaller and curl downwards. Ectopic expression also led to shorter siliques and smaller seeds, but not for . These results suggest that BpYABs have functional divergency and redundancy in regulating leaf and silique development.