Department of Plant Science, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
Joint Tomato Research Institute, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
J Exp Bot. 2021 May 28;72(12):4269-4282. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erab113.
Fruit quality in most fleshy fruit crops is fundamentally linked to ripening-associated traits, including changes in colour. In many climacteric fruits, including tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), the phytohormone ethylene plays a key role in regulating ripening. Previous map-based cloning of YELLOW FRUITED-TOMATO 1 (YFT1) revealed that it encodes the EIN2 protein, a core component in ethylene signal transduction. A YFT1 allele with a genetic lesion was found to be down-regulated in the yft1 tomato mutant that has a yellow fruit phenotype and perturbed ethylene signalling. Based on bioinformatic analysis, yeast one hybrid assays and electrophoretic mobility shift assays, we report that transcription factor WRKY32 regulates tomato fruit colour formation. WRKY32 binds to W-box and W-box-like motifs in the regulatory region of the YFT1 promoter and induces its expression. In tomato fruits of WRKY32-RNAi generated lines, ethylene signalling was reduced, leading to a suppression in ethylene emission, a delay in chromoplast development, decreased carotenoid accumulation, and a yellow fruit phenotype. These results provide new insights into the regulatory networks that govern tomato fruit colour formation via ethylene signal transduction.
大多数肉质水果的果实品质与成熟相关的特性密切相关,包括颜色变化。在许多跃变型果实中,包括番茄(Solanum lycopersicum),植物激素乙烯在调节成熟中起着关键作用。以前基于图谱的 YELLOW FRUITED-TOMATO 1(YFT1)克隆揭示它编码 EIN2 蛋白,这是乙烯信号转导的核心组成部分。在具有黄色果实表型和破坏乙烯信号的 yft1 番茄突变体中,发现具有遗传缺陷的 YFT1 等位基因下调。基于生物信息学分析、酵母单杂交测定和电泳迁移率变动分析,我们报告转录因子 WRKY32 调节番茄果实颜色形成。WRKY32 结合 YFT1 启动子调控区的 W-box 和 W-box 样基序,并诱导其表达。在 WRKY32-RNAi 产生的番茄果实中,乙烯信号被抑制,导致乙烯释放减少、质体发育延迟、类胡萝卜素积累减少和果实呈现黄色。这些结果为通过乙烯信号转导调控番茄果实颜色形成的调控网络提供了新的见解。