The developing leaf of the wild grass Brachypodium distachyon at single-cell resolution

Abstract

Leaves are the plants main photosynthetic organs and drive Earths primary production. Grasses form longitudinal leaves with parallel venation and graminoid stomata. Yet, how distinct leaf tissues coordinatively develop to build functional grass leaf anatomy is not well understood. Here, we decoded the developing grass leaf from vegetative meristems to mature tissues using single-cell RNA-sequencing in the wild grass Brachypodium distachyon. In-depth analysis of epidermal clusters and multiplexed whole-mount RNA-fluorescence in situ hybridization resolved most epidermal lineages and confirmed them in planta. Gene regulatory network analysis distinguished the targetome of the two co-expressed, yet functionally divergent stomatal transcription factors BdMUTE and BdFAMA. Finally, we used our dataset to identify and functionally describe BdGRAS32s role in cell division inhibition and a stomata-specific function for a cell wall modifying enzyme. Together, our single-cell grass leaf atlas enables the dissection of developmental processes that shape the leaf sustaining global food production.