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What lies beyond the eye: the molecular mechanisms regulating tomato fruit weight and shape.

ABSTRACT: Domestication of fruit and vegetables resulted in a huge diversity of shapes and sizes of the produce. Selections that took place over thousands of years of alleles that increased fruit weight and altered shape for specific culinary uses provide a wealth of resources to study the molecular bases of this diversity. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) evolved from a wild ancestor (S. pimpinellifolium) bearing small and round edible fruit. Molecular genetic studies led to the identification of two genes selected for fruit weight: FW2.2 encoding a member of the Cell Number Regulator family; and FW3.2 encoding a P450 enzyme and the ortholog of KLUH. Four genes were identified that were selected for fruit shape: SUN encoding a member of the IQD family of calmodulin-binding proteins leading to fruit elongation; OVATE encoding a member of the OVATE family proteins involved in transcriptional repression leading to fruit elongation; LC encoding most likely the ortholog of WUSCHEL controlling meristem size and locule number; FAS encoding a member in the YABBY family controlling locule number leading to flat or oxheart shape. For this article, we will provide an overview of the putative function of the known genes, when during floral and fruit development they are hypothesized to act and their potential importance in regulating morphological diversity in other fruit and vegetable crops.

SUBMITTER: van der Knaap E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4034497 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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What lies beyond the eye: the molecular mechanisms regulating tomato fruit weight and shape.

van der Knaap Esther E Chakrabarti Manohar M Chu Yi Hsuan YH Clevenger Josh P JP Illa-Berenguer Eudald E Huang Zejun Z Keyhaninejad Neda N Mu Qi Q Sun Liang L Wang Yanping Y Wu Shan S

Frontiers in plant science 20140527

Domestication of fruit and vegetables resulted in a huge diversity of shapes and sizes of the produce. Selections that took place over thousands of years of alleles that increased fruit weight and altered shape for specific culinary uses provide a wealth of resources to study the molecular bases of this diversity. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) evolved from a wild ancestor (S. pimpinellifolium) bearing small and round edible fruit. Molecular genetic studies led to the identification of two genes ...[more]

PMID: 24904622

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Project description:The molecular characteristics of soluble extensin from tomato have been investigated. An apparent molecular mass greater than 240 kDa has been previously observed with the shape-dependent method of gel-filtration chromatography [Brownleader and Dey (1993) Planta (Berlin) 191, 457-469]. Tomato extensin is a heavily glycosylated protein that does not migrate into SDS/polyacrylamide gels. This shape-dependent behaviour raises doubts about agreement between the observed apparent mass and the absolute value. The molecular mass measured with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) was 72.3 kDa, with no evidence of any other species except a doubly charged ion. The sample was therefore considered to be monodisperse under the conditions used. Electron microscopy of soluble extensin showed the presence of particles 40-50 nm in length and 2.0-2.5 nm in width. A minority of these particles showed a central 'kink'. A number of smaller and generally wider particles (20 nm x 2-4 nm) were considered to be folded monomers and larger particles were thought to be dimers. Sedimentation analysis showed that extensin exists in a rapid monomer-dimer equilibrium in the concentration range and buffer used. Sedimentation equilibrium data gave a Kd of 8.5 microM and sedimentation velocity data generated a Kd between 1 and 10 microM. The concentration dependence of the measured sedimentation coefficient was used, together with hydrodynamic bead modelling, to define plausible shapes for monomer and dimer. This suggests that monomeric extensin is an elongated rod of length 40 nm and width 2 nm, which forms staggered dimers of average length 50 nm and width 3 nm. Extensin is an integral component of the primary cell wall. The physical characteristics (size, shape and form) of the rod-like extensin have been evaluated in this paper so that the role that extensin plays in primary cell wall architecture and during plant disease resistance can be more fully understood.

Project description:Key messageSix novel fruit weight QTLs were identified in tomato using multiple bi-parental populations developed from ancestral accessions. Beneficial alleles at these loci arose in semi-domesticated subpopulations and were likely left behind. This study paves the way to introgress these alleles into breeding programs. The size and weight of edible organs have been strongly selected during crop domestication. Concurrently, human have also focused on nutritional and cultural characteristics of fruits and vegetables, at times countering selective pressures on beneficial size and weight alleles. Therefore, it is likely that novel improvement alleles for organ weight still segregate in ancestral germplasm. To date, five domestication and diversification genes affecting tomato fruit weight have been identified, yet the genetic basis for increases in weight has not been fully accounted for. We found that fruit weight increased gradually during domestication and diversification, and semi-domesticated subpopulations featured high phenotypic and nucleotide diversity. Columella and septum fruit tissues were proportionally increased, suggesting targeted selection. We developed twenty-one F2 populations with parents fixed for the known fruit weight genes, corresponding to putative key transitions from wild to fully domesticated tomatoes. These parents also showed differences in fruit weight attributes as well as the developmental timing of size increase. A subset of populations was targeted for QTL-seq, leading to the identification of six uncloned fruit weight QTLs. Three QTLs, located on chromosomes 1, 2 and 3, were subsequently validated by progeny testing. By exploring the segregation of the known fruit weight genes and the identified QTLs, we estimated that most beneficial alleles in the newly identified loci arose in semi-domesticated subpopulations from South America and were not likely transmitted to fully domesticated landraces. Therefore, these alleles could be incorporated into breeding programs using the germplasm and genetic resources identified in this study.

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What lies beyond the eye: the molecular mechanisms regulating tomato fruit weight and shape.

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What lies beyond the eye: the molecular mechanisms regulating tomato fruit weight and shape.

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