Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Tomato, Bioengineering College, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, People's Republic of China.
Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Tomato, Bioengineering College, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, People's Republic of China.
Plant Sci. 2017 May;258:90-101. doi: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2017.02.005. Epub 2017 Feb 20.
MADS-domain proteins are important transcription factors that are involved in many biological processes of plants. In the present study, SlMBP11, a member of the AGL15 subfamily, was cloned in tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicon M.). SlMBP11 is ubiquitously expressed in all of the tissues we examined, whereas the SlMBP11 transcription levels were significantly higher in reproductive tissues than in vegetative tissues. Plants exhibiting increased SlMBP11 levels displayed reduced plant height, leaf size, and internode length as well as a loss of dominance in young seedlings, highly branched growth from each leaf axil, and increased number of nodes and leaves. Moreover, overexpression lines also exhibited reproductive phenotypes, such as those having a shorter style and split ovary, leading to polycarpous fruits, while the wild type showed normal floral organization. In addition, delayed perianth senescence was observed in transgenic tomatoes. These phenotypes were further confirmed by analyzing the morphological, anatomical and molecular features of lines exhibiting overexpression. These results suggest that SlMBP11 plays an important role in regulating plant architecture and reproductive development in tomato plants. These findings add a new class of transcription factors to the group of genes controlling axillary bud growth and illuminate a previously uncharacterized function of MADS-box genes in tomato plants.
MADS 域蛋白是一类重要的转录因子，参与植物的许多生物学过程。本研究在番茄植物（Solanum lycopersicon M.）中克隆了 AGL15 亚家族的成员 SlMBP11。SlMBP11 在我们研究的所有组织中都广泛表达，而 SlMBP11 的转录水平在生殖组织中明显高于营养组织。SlMBP11 水平升高的植物表现出株高降低、叶片变小、节间长度变短，以及在幼苗中失去优势、每个叶腋的生长高度分枝、节点和叶片数量增加。此外，过表达系也表现出生殖表型，如花柱变短和子房分裂，导致多胚果实，而野生型表现出正常的花器官组织。此外，还观察到转基因番茄的花被片衰老延迟。这些表型通过分析过表达系的形态、解剖和分子特征进一步得到证实。这些结果表明 SlMBP11 在调控番茄植物的植株结构和生殖发育中起着重要作用。这些发现为控制侧芽生长的基因组增加了一类新的转录因子，并阐明了 MADS 盒基因在番茄植物中的一个以前未被描述的功能。
