Two novel anoxia-induced ethylene response factors that interact with promoters of deastringency-related genes from persimmon

PLoS One. 2014 May 7;9(5):e97043. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0097043. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

A hypoxic environment is generally undesirable for most plants and stimulates anaerobic metabolism. It is a beneficial treatment, however, for the removal of astringency from persimmon to improve the fruit quality after harvest. High soluble tannins (SCTs) content is one of most important causes of astringency. High CO2 (95%) treatment effectively reduced SCTs in both "Mopan" and "Gongcheng-shuishi" persimmon fruit by causing increases in acetaldehyde. Using RNA-seq and realtime PCR, twelve ethylene response factor genes (DkERF11-22) were isolated and characterized, to determine those responsive to high CO2 treatment. Only two genes, DkERF19 and DkERF22, showed trans-activation effects on the promoters of deastringency-related genes pyruvate decarboxylase genes (DkPDC2 and DkPDC3) and the transcript levels of these genes was enhanced by hypoxia. Moreover, DkERF19 and the previously isolated DkERF9 had additive effects on activating the DkPDC2 promoter. Taken together, these results provide further evidence that transcriptome changes in the level of DkERF mRNAs regulate deastringency-related genes and their role in the mechanism of persimmon fruit deastringency is discussed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Carbon Dioxide / metabolism
  • Diospyros / genetics*
  • Ethylenes / metabolism*
  • Fruit / genetics*
  • Fruit / metabolism
  • Fruit / physiology
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
  • Hypoxia / genetics
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Tannins / metabolism
  • Transcription Factors / biosynthesis
  • Transcription Factors / genetics*
  • Transcription Factors / physiology

Substances

  • Ethylenes
  • Tannins
  • Transcription Factors
  • Carbon Dioxide
  • ethylene

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 31101507; no. 31372114; no. 31030052), the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest (no. 201203047), the 111 project, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (no. 2013FZA6010). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.