College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Zijingang Campus, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Integrative Biology, Zhejiang University, Zijingang Campus, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Plant Cell. 2024 Feb 26;36(3):709-726. doi: 10.1093/plcell/koad291.
Fruit softening, an irreversible process that occurs during fruit ripening, can lead to losses and waste during postharvest transportation and storage. Cell wall disassembly is the main factor leading to loss of fruit firmness, and several ripening-associated cell wall genes have been targeted for genetic modification, particularly pectin modifiers. However, individual knockdown of most cell wall-related genes has had minimal influence on cell wall integrity and fruit firmness, with the notable exception of pectate lyase. Compared to pectin disassembly, studies of the cell wall matrix, the xyloglucan-cellulose framework, and underlying mechanisms during fruit softening are limited. Here, a tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) fruit ripening-associated α-expansin (SlExpansin1/SlExp1) and an endoglucanase (SlCellulase2/SlCel2), which function in the cell wall matrix, were knocked out individually and together using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated nuclease 9-mediated genome editing. Simultaneous knockout of SlExp1 and SlCel2 enhanced fruit firmness, reduced depolymerization of homogalacturonan-type pectin and xyloglucan, and increased cell adhesion. In contrast, single knockouts of either SlExp1 or SlCel2 did not substantially change fruit firmness, while simultaneous overexpression of SlExp1 and SlCel2 promoted early fruit softening. Collectively, our results demonstrate that SlExp1 and SlCel2 synergistically regulate cell wall disassembly and fruit softening in tomato.
果实软化是果实成熟过程中发生的不可逆过程,会导致采后运输和储存过程中的损失和浪费。细胞壁解体是导致果实硬度丧失的主要因素,已有几个与成熟相关的细胞壁基因被作为遗传修饰的靶点,特别是果胶修饰酶。然而,大多数细胞壁相关基因的单独敲低对细胞壁完整性和果实硬度的影响很小,果胶裂解酶是一个显著的例外。与果胶解体相比,关于细胞壁基质、木葡聚糖-纤维素框架以及果实软化过程中的潜在机制的研究还很有限。在这里,我们使用成簇规律间隔短回文重复(CRISPR)/CRISPR 相关核酸酶 9 介导的基因组编辑技术,分别敲除了一个与番茄(Solanum lycopersicum)果实成熟相关的α-扩张蛋白(SlExpansin1/SlExp1)和一个内切葡聚糖酶(SlCellulase2/SlCel2),这两个基因都作用于细胞壁基质。SlExp1 和 SlCel2 的同时敲除增强了果实硬度,减少了同型半乳糖醛酸果胶和木葡聚糖的解聚,并增加了细胞黏附。相比之下,SlExp1 或 SlCel2 的单个敲除并没有显著改变果实硬度,而 SlExp1 和 SlCel2 的同时过表达则促进了果实的早期软化。总之,我们的结果表明,SlExp1 和 SlCel2 协同调节番茄细胞壁解体和果实软化。