WRKY Gene Family Drives Dormancy Release in Onion Bulbs

Cells

Anna Taglienti¹  Antonino Crucitti²  Antonio Tiberini²  Antonio Mauceri²  Francesco Sunseri²  Guglielmo Puccio³  Antonio Palumbo Piccionello⁴  Francesco Carimi⁵  Francesco Mercati⁵  Martijn van Kaauwen⁶  Olga Scholten⁶  Ben Vosman⁶ 

[1] CREA Research Centre for Plant Protection and Certification, 00156 Roma, Italy;Dipartimento Agraria, Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, 89124 Reggio Calabria, Italy;Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Forestali, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy;Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche, Chimiche e Farmaceutiche-STEBICEF, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze Ed. 17, 90128 Palermo, Italy;National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources (CNR-IBBR), 90128 Palermo, Italy;Plant Breeding, Wageningen University and Research Centre, P.O. Box 386, 6700 AJ Wageningen, The Netherlands;

关键词: Allium cepa L.;    onion yellow dwarf virus;    de novo transcriptome assembly;    transcription factor;    RNA-seq;    biotic stress;   

DOI  :  10.3390/cells11071100

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is an important bulb crop grown worldwide. Dormancy in bulbous plants is an important physiological state mainly regulated by a complex gene network that determines a stop of vegetative growth during unfavorable seasons. Limited knowledge on the molecular mechanisms that regulate dormancy in onion were available until now. Here, a comparison between uninfected and onion yellow dwarf virus (OYDV)-infected onion bulbs highlighted an altered dormancy in the virus-infected plants, causing several symptoms, such as leaf striping, growth reduction, early bulb sprouting and rooting, as well as a lower abscisic acid (ABA) level at the start of dormancy. Furthermore, by comparing three dormancy stages, almost five thousand four hundred (5390) differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found in uninfected bulbs, while the number of DEGs was significantly reduced (1322) in OYDV-infected bulbs. Genes involved in cell wall modification, proteolysis, and hormone signaling, such as ABA, gibberellins (GAs), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), and brassinosteroids (BRs), that have already been reported as key dormancy-related pathways, were the most enriched ones in the healthy plants. Interestingly, several transcription factors (TFs) were up-regulated in the uninfected bulbs, among them three genes belonging to the WRKY family, for the first time characterized in onion, were identified during dormancy release. The involvement of specific WRKY genes in breaking dormancy in onion was confirmed by GO enrichment and network analysis, highlighting a correlation between AcWRKY32 and genes driving plant development, cell wall modification, and division via gibberellin and auxin homeostasis, two key processes in dormancy release. Overall, we present, for the first time, a detailed molecular analysis of the dormancy process, a description of the WRKY-TF family in onion, providing a better understanding of the role played by AcWRKY32 in the bulb dormancy release. The TF co-expressed genes may represent targets for controlling the early sprouting in onion, laying the foundations for novel breeding programs to improve shelf life and reduce postharvest.

【 授权许可】

Unknown