Gene regulatory network controlling carpel number variation in cucumber

Gen Che; Ran Gu; Jianyu Zhao; Xiaofeng Liu; Xiaofei Song; Hailing Zi; Zhihua Cheng; Junjun Shen; Zhongyi Wang; Renyi Liu; Liying Yan; Yiqun Weng; Xiaolan Zhang

doi:10.1242/dev.184788

Gene regulatory network controlling carpel number variation in cucumber

Development. 2020 Apr 6;147(7):dev184788. doi: 10.1242/dev.184788.

Authors

Gen Che¹, Ran Gu¹, Jianyu Zhao¹, Xiaofeng Liu¹, Xiaofei Song², Hailing Zi³, Zhihua Cheng¹, Junjun Shen¹, Zhongyi Wang¹, Renyi Liu⁴, Liying Yan⁵, Yiqun Weng⁶, Xiaolan Zhang⁷

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratories of Agrobiotechnology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Growth and Developmental Regulation for Protected Vegetable Crops, Department of Vegetable Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
² Analysis and Testing Centre, Hebei Normal University of Science and Technology, Qinhuangdao 066004, China.
³ Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201602, China.
⁴ Center for Agroforestry Mega Data Science and FAFU-UCR Joint Center for Horticultural Biology and Metabolomics, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.
⁵ College of Horticulture Science and Technology, Hebei Normal University of Science and Technology, Qinhuangdao 066004, China.
⁶ USDA-ARS, Vegetable Crops Research Unit, Horticulture Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1575 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
⁷ State Key Laboratories of Agrobiotechnology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Growth and Developmental Regulation for Protected Vegetable Crops, Department of Vegetable Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China zhxiaolan@cau.edu.cn.

PMID: 32165491
DOI: 10.1242/dev.184788

Abstract

The WUSCHEL-CLAVATA3 pathway genes play an essential role in shoot apical meristem maintenance and floral organ development, and under intense selection during crop domestication. The carpel number is an important fruit trait that affects fruit shape, size and internal quality in cucumber, but the molecular mechanism remains elusive. Here, we found that CsCLV3 expression was negatively correlated with carpel number in cucumber cultivars. CsCLV3-RNAi led to increased number of petals and carpels, whereas overexpression of CsWUS resulted in more sepals, petals and carpels, suggesting that CsCLV3 and CsWUS function as a negative and a positive regulator for carpel number variation, respectively. Biochemical analyses indicated that CsWUS directly bound to the promoter of CsCLV3 and activated its expression. Overexpression of CsFUL1^A , a FRUITFULL-like MADS-box gene, resulted in more petals and carpels. CsFUL1^A can directly bind to the CsWUS promoter to stimulate its expression. Furthermore, we found that auxin participated in carpel number variation in cucumber through interaction of CsARF14 with CsWUS. Therefore, we have identified a gene regulatory pathway involving CsCLV3, CsWUS, CsFUL1^A and CsARF14 in determining carpel number variation in an important vegetable crop - cucumber.

Keywords: Auxin; Carpel number; CsCLV3; CsFUL1A; CsWUS; Cucumber.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cell Count
Cucumis sativus / genetics*
Cucumis sativus / growth & development*
Flowers / cytology*
Flowers / embryology
Flowers / genetics
Fruit* / cytology
Fruit* / genetics
Fruit* / growth & development
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
Gene Regulatory Networks / physiology*
Genes, Plant
Genetic Variation
Meristem / embryology
Meristem / genetics
Phenotype
Plants, Genetically Modified