Complementation of the tomato HWS gene with its Arabidopsis counterpart demonstrates conservation of the gene function between both species

Toshifumi Nagata; Fabien Lombardo; Hiroshi Ezura

doi:10.5511/plantbiotechnology.21.0729a

Complementation of the tomato HWS gene with its Arabidopsis counterpart demonstrates conservation of the gene function between both species

Plant Biotechnol (Tokyo). 2021 Sep 25;38(3):387-390. doi: 10.5511/plantbiotechnology.21.0729a.

Authors

Toshifumi Nagata¹, Fabien Lombardo¹, Hiroshi Ezura^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan.
² Tsukuba Plant Innovation Research Center, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan.

PMID: 34782827
PMCID: PMC8562581
DOI: 10.5511/plantbiotechnology.21.0729a

Abstract

The HAWAIIAN SKIRT (HWS) gene was originally described in Arabidopsis for the characteristic fusion of sepals in the mutant. A tomato line mutated in the putative ortholog gene was isolated in a previous study. The tomato hws-1 mutant showed facultative parthenocarpy and produced fruits with elevated Brix, revealing the gene as a hopeful resource for crop improvement. To confirm the orthology relationship between the Arabidopsis and tomato HWS genes, the hws-1 mutant was complemented with either the tomato wild-type genomic fragment or the Arabidopsis sequence of the gene. In both complementation experiments, defective phenotypes of hws-1 are rescued, albeit to different extents. Recovery of these phenotypes, which include parthenocarpic fruit production, increased Brix, loss of leaflet serration, alteration of bud and petal shape, firmly establishes SlHWS as an ortholog of the originally described HWS in Arabidopsis. This work indicates that the function of HWS is likely to be conserved in a wide range of plant species.

Keywords: F-box gene; HAWAIIAN SKIRT; parthenocarpy; tomato.