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The AP2/ERF transcription factor SlERF52 functions in flower pedicel abscission in tomato.

ABSTRACT: In plants, abscission removes senescent, injured, infected, or dispensable organs. Induced by auxin depletion and an ethylene burst, abscission requires pronounced changes in gene expression, including genes for cell separation enzymes and regulators of signal transduction and transcription. However, the understanding of the molecular basis of this regulation remains incomplete. To examine gene regulation in abscission, this study examined an ERF family transcription factor, tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) ETHYLENE-RESPONSIVE FACTOR 52 (SlERF52). SlERF52 is specifically expressed in pedicel abscission zones (AZs) and SlERF52 expression is suppressed in plants with impaired function of MACROCALYX and JOINTLESS, which regulate pedicel AZ development. RNA interference was used to knock down SlERF52 expression to show that SlERF52 functions in flower pedicel abscission. When treated with an abscission-inducing stimulus, the SlERF52-suppressed plants showed a significant delay in flower abscission compared with wild type. They also showed reduced upregulation of the genes for the abscission-associated enzymes cellulase and polygalacturonase. SlERF52 suppression also affected gene expression before the abscission stimulus, inhibiting the expression of pedicel AZ-specific transcription factor genes, such as the tomato WUSCHEL homologue, GOBLET, and Lateral suppressor, which may regulate meristematic activities in pedicel AZs. These results suggest that SlERF52 plays a pivotal role in transcriptional regulation in pedicel AZs at both pre-abscission and abscission stages.

SUBMITTER: Nakano T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4071829 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The AP2/ERF transcription factor SlERF52 functions in flower pedicel abscission in tomato.

Nakano Toshitsugu T Fujisawa Masaki M Shima Yoko Y Ito Yasuhiro Y

Journal of experimental botany 20140417 12

In plants, abscission removes senescent, injured, infected, or dispensable organs. Induced by auxin depletion and an ethylene burst, abscission requires pronounced changes in gene expression, including genes for cell separation enzymes and regulators of signal transduction and transcription. However, the understanding of the molecular basis of this regulation remains incomplete. To examine gene regulation in abscission, this study examined an ERF family transcription factor, tomato (Solanum lyco ...[more]

PMID: 24744429

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Project description:Ethylene has impact on several physiological plant processes, including abscission, during which plants shed both their vegetative and reproductive organs. Cell separation and programmed cell death are involved in abscission, and these have also been correlated with ethylene action. However, the detailed spatiotemporal pattern of the molecular events during abscission remains unknown. We examined the expression of two tomato ACO genes, LeACO1, and LeACO4 that encode the last enzyme in ethylene biosynthesis, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate oxidase (ACO), together with the expression of other abscission-associated genes involved in cell separation and programmed cell death, during a period of 0-12 h after abscission induction in the tomato flower pedicel abscission zone and nearby tissues. In addition, we determined their localization in specific cell layers of the flower pedicel abscission zone and nearby tissues obtained by laser microdissection before and 8 h after abscission induction. The expression of both ACO genes was localized to the vascular tissues in the pedicel. While LeACO4 was more uniformly expressed in all examined cell layers, the main expression site of LeACO1 was in cell layers just outside the abscission zone in its proximal and distal part. We showed that after abscission induction, ACO1 protein was synthesized in phloem companion cells, in which it was localized mainly in the cytoplasm. Samples were additionally treated with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), a competitive inhibitor of ethylene actions, and analyzed 8 h after abscission induction. Cell-layer-specific changes in gene expression were observed together with the specific localization and ethylene sensitivity of the hallmarks of cell separation and programmed cell death. While treatment with 1-MCP prevented separation of cells through inhibition of the expression of polygalacturonases, which are the key enzymes involved in degradation of the middle lamella, this had less impact on the occurrence of different kinds of membrane vesicles and abscission-related programmed cell death. In the flower pedicel abscission zone, the physical progressions of cell separation and programmed cell death are perpendicular to each other and start in the vascular tissues.

Dataset Information

The AP2/ERF transcription factor SlERF52 functions in flower pedicel abscission in tomato.

Publications

The AP2/ERF transcription factor SlERF52 functions in flower pedicel abscission in tomato.

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