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The paleoAP3-type gene CpAP3, an ancestral B-class gene from the basal angiosperm Chimonanthus praecox, can affect stamen and petal development in higher eudicots

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Abstract

Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox), a basal angiosperm endemic to China, has high ornamental value for developing beautiful flowers with strong fragrance. The molecular mechanism regulating flower development in wintersweet remains largely elusive. In this project, we seek to determine the molecular features and expression patterns of the C. praecox paleoAP3-type gene CpAP3 and examine its potential role in regulating floral development via ectopic expression in Arabidopsis thaliana and Petunia hybrida. The expression of CpAP3 is tissue-specific, with the highest level in the tepals, moderate level in carpels, and weak levels in stamen and vegetative stem tissues. Its dynamic expression during flowering is associated with flower-bud formation. Ectopic expression of CpAP3 partially rescued stamen development in ap3 mutant Arabidopsis. Although no phenotypic effect has been observed in wild-type Arabidopsis, CpAP3 overexpression in petunia brought rich morphological changes and homeotic conversions to flowers, mainly involving disruption of petal and stamen development. Expressed in a broader range than those canonical B-function regulators, the ancestral B-class gene CpAP3 can affect petal and stamen development in higher eudicots. This gene also holds some bioengineering potential in creating novel floral germplasms.

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Abbreviations

MADS:

Yeast MCM1, Arabidopsis AGAMOUS, snapdragon DEFICIENS A and human SRF

AP3:

APETALA3

PI:

PISTILLATA

Mya:

Million years ago

TM6:

TOMATO MADS-BOX GENE6

cDNA:

Complementary DNA

RACE:

Rapid amplification of cDNA ends

bp:

Base pairs

ORF:

Open reading frame

RT-PCR:

Reverse transcription-PCR

CaMV:

Cauliflower mosaic virus

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center at the Ohio State University for providing ap3 mutant. The authors thank Dr. Li Song of the Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology for help in microscopic observation and Dr. Fang Duan of York University, Canada for valuable suggestions and critical reading of the manuscript. The authors would also like to thank anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the manuscript. This work was partly supported by a grant to Ke Duan from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 30800081).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Agricultural Genetics and Breeding, Institute of Biotechnology, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences (SAAS), Beidi Road 2901, Minhang District, Shanghai, 201106, China

    Qiong Zhang, Bei-Guo Wang, Ke Duan, Li-Gang Wang, Meng Wang, Xue-Ming Tang & Ai-Hu Pan

  2. College of Horticultural Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Qiong Zhang & Guang-Dong Wang

  3. College of Horticulture and Landscape, Institute of Ornamental Research, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China

    Bei-Guo Wang & Shun-Zhao Sui

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  1. Qiong Zhang
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  9. Guang-Dong Wang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ke Duan or Guang-Dong Wang.

Additional information

Communicated by K. Schneitz

Qiong Zhang and Bei-Guo Wang contributed equally to this work.

The nucleotide sequence reported in this paper has been submitted to GenBank under the accession number EF059915 (CpAP3).

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Expression analysis of CpAP3 in wild-type and transgenic petunia (DOC 42 kb)

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Zhang, Q., Wang, BG., Duan, K. et al. The paleoAP3-type gene CpAP3, an ancestral B-class gene from the basal angiosperm Chimonanthus praecox, can affect stamen and petal development in higher eudicots. Dev Genes Evol 221, 83–93 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-011-0361-9

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