An ACC Oxidase Gene Essential for Cucumber Carpel Development  

作　　者：Huiming Chen Jinjing Sun Shuai Li Qingzhi Cui Huimin Zhang Fengjiao Xin Huaisong Wang Tao Lin Dongli Gao Shenhao Wang Xia Li Donghui Wang Zhonghua Zhang Zhihong Xu Sanwen Huang 

机构地区：[1]Hunan Vegetable Research Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China [2]Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops of the Ministry of Agriculture, Sino-Dutch Joint Laboratory of Horticultural Genomics,institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China [3]Agricultural Genomic Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518120, China [4]Institute of Agricultural Product Processing, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China [5]College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China [6]These authors contributed equally to this article,

出　　处：《Molecular Plant》2016年第9期1315-1327,共13页分子植物（英文版）

摘　　要：Sex determination in plants gives rise to unisexual flowers that facilitate outcrossing and enhance genetic diversity. In cucumber and melon, ethylene promotes carpel development and arrests sta- men development. Five sex-determination genes have been identified, including four encoding 1-aminocyclopropane-l-carboxylate （ACC） synthase that catalyzes the rate-limiting step in ethylene biosynthesis, and a transcription factor gene CmWIP1 that corresponds to the Mendelian locus gynoecious in melon and is a negative regulator of femaleness. ACC oxidase （ACO） converts ACC into ethylene; how- ever, it remains elusive which ACO gene in the cucumber genome is critical for sex determination and how CmWIP1 represses development of female flowers. In this study, we discovered that mutation in an ACO gene, CsAC02, confers androecy in cucumber that bears only male flowers. The mutation disrupts the enzymatic activity of CsAC02, resulting in 50% less ethylene emission from shoot tips. CsAC02 was ex- pressed in the carpel primordia and its expression overlapped with that of CsACS11 in female flowers at key stages for sex determination, presumably providing sufficient ethylene required for proper CsACS2 expression. CmAC03, the ortholog of CsACO2, showed a similar expression pattern in the carpel region, suggesting a conserved function of CsACO2/CmACO3. We demonstrated that CsWlP1, the ortholog of CmWlP1, could directly bind the promoter of CsAC02 and repress its expression. Taken together, we propose a presumably conserved regulatory module consisting of WlP1 transcription factor and ACO controls unisexual flower development in cucumber and melon.Sex determination in plants gives rise to unisexual flowers that facilitate outcrossing and enhance genetic diversity. In cucumber and melon, ethylene promotes carpel development and arrests sta- men development. Five sex-determination genes have been identified, including four encoding 1-aminocyclopropane-l-carboxylate （ACC） synthase that catalyzes the rate-limiting step in ethylene biosynthesis, and a transcription factor gene CmWIP1 that corresponds to the Mendelian locus gynoecious in melon and is a negative regulator of femaleness. ACC oxidase （ACO） converts ACC into ethylene; how- ever, it remains elusive which ACO gene in the cucumber genome is critical for sex determination and how CmWIP1 represses development of female flowers. In this study, we discovered that mutation in an ACO gene, CsAC02, confers androecy in cucumber that bears only male flowers. The mutation disrupts the enzymatic activity of CsAC02, resulting in 50% less ethylene emission from shoot tips. CsAC02 was ex- pressed in the carpel primordia and its expression overlapped with that of CsACS11 in female flowers at key stages for sex determination, presumably providing sufficient ethylene required for proper CsACS2 expression. CmAC03, the ortholog of CsACO2, showed a similar expression pattern in the carpel region, suggesting a conserved function of CsACO2/CmACO3. We demonstrated that CsWlP1, the ortholog of CmWlP1, could directly bind the promoter of CsAC02 and repress its expression. Taken together, we propose a presumably conserved regulatory module consisting of WlP1 transcription factor and ACO controls unisexual flower development in cucumber and melon.

关 键 词：CUCUMBER sex determination carpel development ACC oxidase 

分 类 号：Q94[生物学—植物学]