Evolutionary and Environmental Forces Sculpting Leaf Development

Abstract

Leaf shape is spectacularly diverse. As a major component of plant architecture and an interface for light capture, gas exchange, and thermoregulation, the potential contributions of leaves to plant fitness are innumerable. Particularly because of their intimate association and interaction with the surrounding environment, both the plasticity of leaf shape during the lifetime of a plant and the evolution of leaf shape over geologic time are revealing with respect to leaf function. Leaf shapes arise within a developmental context that constrains both their evolution and environmental plasticity. Quantitative models capturing genetic diversity, developmental context, and environmental plasticity will be required to fully understand the evolution and development of leaf shape and its response to environmental pressures. In this review, we discuss recent literature demonstrating that distinct molecular pathways are modulated by specific environmental inputs, the output of which regulates leaf dissection. We propose a synthesis explaining both historical patterns in the paleorecord and conserved plastic responses in extant plants. Understanding the potential adaptive value of leaf shape, and how to molecularly manipulate it, will prove to be invaluable in designing crops optimized for future climates.