Project description:Ripening is an important stage of fruit development to determine its quality as a diet. A tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) MADS-box transcription factor, RIPENING INHIBITOR (RIN), has been believed to serve as a regulator of ripening lying upstream of ethylene-dependent and ethylene-independent pathways. Here, we have conducted global gene expression analysis to comprehensively identify tomato genes whose expressions are affected by the rin mutation using microarray with RNA samples from the normal and rin mutant tomato fruits at the pre-ripening (mature green) and ripening (pink coloring) stages. By analysing this microarray data, we identified 342 of positively regulated and 473 negatively regulated genes by RIN, which showed >5 and <0.2 of the fold change ratio (FC) of normal fruits at the ripening stage relative to those at the pre-ripening stage, respectively, in a RIN-dependent manner. A chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) analysis of the normal ripening tomatoes with the anti-RIN antibody revealed that the positively regulated gene set contained at least 13 direct RIN targets. We monitored global gene expression in normal (PK331 cultivar) and rin mutant (PK353 cultivar) tomatoes at the pre-ripening (mature green, G) and ripening (pink coloring, P) stages using microarray with three biological replicates for each sample.
Project description:Ripening is an important stage of fruit development to determine its quality as a diet. A tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) MADS-box transcription factor, RIPENING INHIBITOR (RIN), has been believed to serve as a regulator of ripening lying upstream of ethylene-dependent and ethylene-independent pathways. Here, we have conducted global gene expression analysis to comprehensively identify tomato genes whose expressions are affected by the rin mutation using microarray with RNA samples from the normal and rin mutant tomato fruits at the pre-ripening (mature green) and ripening (pink coloring) stages. By analysing this microarray data, we identified 342 of positively regulated and 473 negatively regulated genes by RIN, which showed >5 and <0.2 of the fold change ratio (FC) of normal fruits at the ripening stage relative to those at the pre-ripening stage, respectively, in a RIN-dependent manner. A chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) analysis of the normal ripening tomatoes with the anti-RIN antibody revealed that the positively regulated gene set contained at least 13 direct RIN targets.
Project description:Fruits are unique to flowering plants and play a central role in seed maturation and dispersal. Molecular dissection of fruit ripening has received considerable interest because of the biological and dietary significance of fruit. To better understand the regulatory mechanisms underlying fruit ripening, we report here the first comprehensive analysis of the nuclear proteome in tomato fruits. Nuclear proteins were isolated from tomatoes in different stages of ripening, and subjected to iTRAQ (isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification) analysis. The proteins that changed abundance across ripening stages are involved in various cellular processes. We additionally evaluated the changes in the nuclear proteome in the ripening-deficient mutant ripening inhibitor (rin) carrying a mutation in the transcription factor RIN. A set of proteins were identified and particular attention was paid to SlUBC32 and PSMD2, the components of ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. Through chromatin immunoprecipitation and gel mobility shift assay, we provide evidence that RIN directly bound to the promoters of SlUBC32 and PSMD2. Moreover, loss of RIN function affected protein ubiquitination in nuclei. SlUBC32 encodes an E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme and genome-wide survey of the E2 gene family in tomatoes identified five more E2s as the direct targets of RIN. Two E2s were demonstrated to be involved in the regulation of fruit ripening based on virus-induced gene silencing assays. Our results uncover the novel function of protein ubiquitination, identifying specific E2s as regulator in fruit ripening. These findings contribute to the unraveling of the gene regulatory networks that control fruit ripening.
Project description:Ethylene receptor protein quantification is essential to study their functions, but is impaired by low resolutive tools such as antibodies that are mostly nonspecific. Here we report a proteomic method that enables the quantification of all tomato ethylene receptors, which can be applied to other organisms. Testing this method, we found that “Never-Ripe” tomatoes stay orange while a mutated receptor accumulated at ripening, further blocking the ethylene signal .
Project description:Magnesium limitation weakens the external quality of tomatoes by impairing carbohydrate and amino acid accumulation during fruit ripening
Project description:[original title] Understanding the complexity of fruit ripening by transcriptome analysis of rin mutant fruit and in silico analysis of promoters of differentially regulated genes A tomato MADS-box transcription factor, LeMADS-RIN, controls fruit ripening and mutation in this gene results in non-ripening phenotype of fruit. This mutation down-regulates certain ripening related ethylene responses, however, other ethylene responses are normal. A complete understanding of this mutation and its effect on fruit transcriptome during ripening is not clear. In this study, microarray analysis has been used to investigate the influence of rin mutation on fruit transcriptome at different stages of ripening. A total of 2,398 genes were found to be differentially expressed in wild type fruit pericarp, which on cluster analysis indicated a major shift in their expression profiles in rin mutant fruit. A total of 1,802 genes were found to be differentially expressed between wild type and rin mutant fruits and 17% of these genes encoded regulatory elements, suggesting that mutation in LeMADS-RIN results in disturbance in the regulatory transcriptional networks during ripening. Since LeMADS-RIN has been reported to bind to the CArG box of LeACS2 promoter, in-silico analysis of 51 putative promoter sequences of the genes, that showed ripening associated up-regulation in wild type but showed impairment in up-regulation in rin mutant fruit during ripening, were searched for presence of CArG box along with ethylene and auxin responsive elements. The study revealed that only 24 putative promoter sequences harbor LeMADS-RIN specific CArG box suggesting an alternative mode of regulation by LeMADS-RIN for CArG box deficient genes.
Project description:The study of climacteric fruit ripening in tomato has been facilitated by the spontaneous ripening mutants Colorless non-ripening (Cnr), non-ripening (nor), and ripening inhibitor (rin). These mutants effect the genes encoding ripening transcription factors (TFs) SPL-CNR, NAC-NOR, and MADS-RIN causing pleiotropic defects to the ripening program. Here, we demonstrate that some ripening processes occur in the mutant fruit but at later stages of development compared to the wild type. The rin and nor mutant fruit exhibit similar quality traits to wildtype at later stages of ripening and senescence and delayed expression of ripening-associated genes. In addition, we propose that the Cnr mutant has a broader range of effects to fruit development than just fruit ripening. Cnr fruit show distinct differences from wild type in ripening phenotypic traits and gene expression profiles prior to the initiation of ripening. We provide new evidence that some mutants can produce more ethylene than basal levels and demonstrate ABA accumulation is also affected by the mutations. Studies have examined the relationship between the CNR, RIN, and NOR TFs based on protein-protein interactions and transcriptional regulation during fruit ripening. We describe the genetic interactions affecting specific fruit traits by using homozygous double mutants. Cnr predominantly influences the phenotype of the Cnr/nor and Cnr/rin double mutants but additional defects beyond either single mutation is evident in the transcriptome of the Cnr/nor double mutant. Our reevaluation of the Cnr, nor, and rin mutants provides new insights the utilization of the mutants in breeding and studying fruit development.
Project description:Application of mass spectrometry enables the detection of metabolic differences between groups of related organisms. Differences in the metabolic fingerprints of wild-type Solanum lycopersicum and three monogenic mutants, ripening inhibitor (rin), non-ripening (nor) and Colourless non-ripening (Cnr), of tomato are captured with regard to ripening behaviour. A high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry system coupled to liquid chromatography produced a time series of the ripening behaviour at discrete intervals with a focus on changes post-anthesis. Internal standards and quality controls were used to ensure system stability. The raw data of the samples and reference compounds including study protocols have been deposited in the open metabolomics database MetaboLights via the metadata annotation tool Isatab to enable efficient re-use of the datasets, such as in metabolomics cross-study comparisons or data fusion exercises.