New insights into the roles of cucumber TIR1 homologs and miR393 in regulating fruit/seed set development and leaf morphogenesis

BMC Plant Biology

Research Article

Jin-Feng Chen¹  Ting Zhang¹  Li Cui¹  Jian Xu¹  Yong-Jiao Meng¹  Ji Li¹  Zhe Wu¹  Kai-Jing Zhang¹  Pin-Yu Zhu¹  Xia-Qing Yu¹  Qun-Feng Lou¹ 

[1] State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, Nanjing Agricultural University, 210095, Nanjing, China;

关键词: Auxin receptor;    Cucumber;    CsTIR1;    miR393/TIR1 module;    Fruit/seed set;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12870-017-1075-6

 received in 2017-03-06, accepted in 2017-07-13,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTIR1-like proteins act as auxin receptors and play essential roles in auxin-mediated plant development processes. The number of auxin receptor family members varies among species. While the functions of auxin receptor genes have been widely studied in Arabidopsis, the distinct functions of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) auxin receptors remains poorly understood. To further our understanding of their potential role in cucumber development, two TIR1-like genes were identified and designated CsTIR1 and CsAFB2. In the present study, tomato (Sonanum lycopersicum) was used as a model to investigate the phenotypic and molecular changes associated with the overexpression of CsTIR1 and CsAFB2.ResultsDifferences in the subcellular localizations of CsTIR1 and CsAFB2 were identified and both genes were actively expressed in leaf, female flower and young fruit tissues of cucumber. Moreover, CsTIR1- and CsAFB2-overexpressing lines exhibited pleotropic phenotypes ranging from leaf abnormalities to seed germination and parthenocarpic fruit compared with the wild-type plants. To further elucidate the regulation of CsTIR1 and CsAFB2, the role of the miR393/TIR1 module in regulating cucumber fruit set were investigated. Activation of miR393-mediated mRNA cleavage of CsTIR1 and CsAFB2 was revealed by qPCR and semi-qPCR, which highlighted the critical role of the miR393/TIR1 module in mediating fruit set development in cucumber.ConclusionOur results provide new insights into the involvement of CsTIR1 and CsAFB2 in regulating various phenotype alterations, and suggest that post-transcriptional regulation of CsTIR1 and CsAFB2 mediated by miR393 is essential for cucumber fruit set initiation. Collectively, these results further clarify the roles of cucumber TIR1 homologs and miR393 in regulating fruit/seed set development and leaf morphogenesis.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017