Jasmonate signalling pathway in strawberry: Genome-wide identification, molecular characterization and expression of JAZs and MYCs during fruit development and ripening

PLoS One. 2018 May 10;13(5):e0197118. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0197118. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Jasmonates (JAs) are signalling molecules involved in stress responses, development and secondary metabolism biosynthesis, although their roles in fleshy-fruit development and ripening processes are not well known. In strawberry fruit, it has been proposed that JAs could regulate the early development through the activation of the JAs biosynthesis. Moreover, it has been reported that JA treatment increases anthocyanin content in strawberry fruit involving the bioactive jasmonate biosynthesis. Nevertheless, JA signalling pathway, of which main components are the COI1-JAZ co-receptor and the MYC transcription factors (TFs), has not been characterized in strawberry until now. Here we identified and characterized the woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) JAZ and MYC genes as well as studied their expression during development and ripening stages in commercial strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) fruit. We described twelve putative JAZ proteins and two MYC TFs, which showed high conservation with respect to their orthologs in Arabidopsis thaliana and in other fleshy-fruit species such as Malus × domestica, Vitis vinifera and Solanum lycopersicum as revealed by gene synteny and phylogenetic analyses. Noteworthy, their expression levels exhibited a significant decrease from fruit development to ripening stages in F. × ananassa, along with others of the JA signalling-related genes such as FaNINJA and FaJAMs, encoding for negative regulators of JA responses. Moreover, we found that main JA signalling-related genes such as FaMYC2, and FaJAZ1 are promptly induced by JA treatment at early times in F. × ananassa fruit. These results suggest the conservation of the canonical JA signalling pathway in strawberry and a possible role of this pathway in early strawberry fruit development, which also correlates negatively with the beginning of the ripening process.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cyclopentanes / metabolism*
  • Fragaria* / genetics
  • Fragaria* / metabolism
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / physiology*
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Oxylipins / metabolism*
  • Plant Proteins* / genetics
  • Plant Proteins* / metabolism
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc* / genetics
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc* / metabolism

Substances

  • Cyclopentanes
  • Oxylipins
  • Plant Proteins
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc
  • jasmonic acid

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT, Chile, http://www.conicyt.cl/), grant CONICYT, FONDECYT/Regular 1140663 to C.R.F. A.G.-B. acknowledges the support by CONICYT through 'Beca Doctorado Nacional 2015 No. 21151411.' The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.