2016年9月，国际学术期刊《Scientific Reports》在线发表了青藏高原植物适应与进化学科组研究员罗克明研究组的最新研究成果：胡杨基因组TCP家族转录因子分析及其在叶形调控中的功能（Ma, X., Ma, J., Fan, D., Li, C., Jiang, Y., & Luo, K. (2016). Genome-wide Identification of TCP Family Transcription Factors from Populus euphratica and Their Involvement in Leaf Shape Regulation. Scientific Reports, 6, doi:10.1038/srep32795, 2015 IF:5.228）

　　Abstract:Higher plants have been shown to experience a juvenile vegetative phase, an adult vegetative phase, and a reproductive phase during its postembryonic development and distinct lateral organ morphologies have been observed at the different development stages. Populus euphratica, commonly known as a desert poplar, has developed heteromorphic leaves during its development. The TCP family genes encode a group of plant-specific transcription factors involved in several aspects of plant development. In particular, TCPs have been shown to influence leaf size and shape in many herbaceous plants. However, whether these functions are conserved in woody plants remains unknown. In the present study, we carried out genome-wide identification of TCP genes in P. euphratica and P. trichocarpa, and 33 and 36 genes encoding putative TCP proteins were found, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis of the poplar TCPs together with Arabidopsis TCPs indicated a biased expansion of the TCP gene family via segmental duplications. In addition, our results have also shown a correlation between different expression patterns of several P. euphratica TCP genes and leaf shape variations, indicating their involvement in the regulation of leaf shape development.