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Induction of gibberellin 20-oxidases and repression of gibberellin 2β-oxidases in unfertilized ovaries of entire tomato mutant, leads to accumulation of active gibberellins and parthenocarpic fruit formation

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Abstract

In tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), auxin and gibberellins (GAs) cross-talk plays an important role during fruit-set. The entire tomato mutant has been previously reported to carry a deletion in the coding region of the SlIAA9 gene, a member of the auxin signal repressor family Aux/IAA. In this paper, we examined the role of ENTIRE gene in controlling GAs metabolism and directing spontaneous fruit initiation and early ovary growth. It was shown that, similarly to pollinated fruits, facultative parthenocarpy in entire depends on active GA metabolism, since fruit growth is suppressed when GA biosynthesis is blocked. Analysis of endogenous GAs during the first 10 days after flower emasculation revealed that entire fruits accumulated higher amounts of active GAs (GA1 and GA3) in comparison to wild type pollinated fruits, suggesting that a different GA homeostasis regulation occurs. Transcript analysis of the main GA biosynthesis genes showed that differently from unpollinated and non parthenocarpic wild type ovaries, in entire active GA flux modulation is regulated by the activation of SlGA20ox1 and SlGA20ox2 and also by a marked reduction of GA catabolism (reduced transcription of GA 2β-oxidase genes) during the early fruit expansion phase.

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Abbreviations

AC:

Ailsa Craig

GA:

Gibberellin

GC–MS/MS:

Gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Aux/IAA:

Auxin/indoleacetic acid

GA20ox:

GA 20-oxidase

GA3ox:

GA 3β-oxidase

GA2ox:

GA 2β-oxidase

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. A. Pardossi for providing greenhouse facilities and helpful advice during the plant growing season. We are also grateful to Dr. N. Ceccarelli for his critical remarks about the experimental design.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste (IBONE), Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional del Nordeste-CONICET, Sargento Cabral 2131, 3400, Corrientes, Argentina

    Francesco Mignolli & María Laura Vidoz

  2. Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via Ghini 13, 56126, Pisa, Italy

    Lorenzo Mariotti & Lara Lombardi

  3. Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via Mariscoglio 34, 56124, Pisa, Italy

    Piero Picciarelli

Authors
  1. Francesco Mignolli
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  2. María Laura Vidoz
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  3. Lorenzo Mariotti
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  4. Lara Lombardi
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  5. Piero Picciarelli
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francesco Mignolli.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

10725_2014_2_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Supplementary material 1 Ratio between GA19 and GA20 plus GA29 concentration in AC pollinated and parthenocarpic entire fruits (TIFF 206 kb)

10725_2014_2_MOESM2_ESM.tif

Supplementary material 2 Diameter of 10-day-old fruits treated with mock (1 % ethanol, 0.1 % Tween 20), 20 ng ovary−1 and 100 ng ovary−1 of the synthetic auxin 4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid (4-CPA) (TIFF 74 kb)

10725_2014_2_MOESM3_ESM.tif

Supplementary material 3 Relationship between flower position in the truss (lower Roman numbers indicate proximity to the stem) and frequency of emasculated flowers that developed parthenocarpic fruits (grey bars) or remained as static ovaries (white bars) (TIFF 124 kb)

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Mignolli, F., Vidoz, M.L., Mariotti, L. et al. Induction of gibberellin 20-oxidases and repression of gibberellin 2β-oxidases in unfertilized ovaries of entire tomato mutant, leads to accumulation of active gibberellins and parthenocarpic fruit formation. Plant Growth Regul 75, 415–425 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-014-0002-1

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