Abstract
Sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) is one of the most economically important fruits in the world. However, severe fruit abscission has brought significant challenges to the cherry industry. To better understand the molecular regulation mechanisms underlying excessive fruit abscission in sweet cherry, the fruit abscission characteristics, the anatomical characteristics of the abscission zone (AZ), as well as a homeodomain-Leucine Zipper gene family member PavHB16 function were analyzed. The results showed that the sweet cherry exhibited two fruit abscission peak stages, with the “Brooks” cultivar demonstrating the highest fruit-dropping rate (97.14%). During these two fruit abscission peak stages, both the retention pedicel and the abscising pedicel formed AZs. but the AZ in the abscising pedicel was more pronounced. In addition, a transcription factor, PavHB16, was identified from sweet cherry. The evolutionary analysis showed that there was high homology between PavHB16 and AtHB12 in Arabidopsis. Moreover, the PavHB16 protein was localized in the nucleus. Overexpression of PavHB16 in Arabidopsis accelerated petal shedding. In the PavHB16-overexpressed lines, the AZ cells in the pedicel became smaller and denser, and the expression of genes involved in cell wall remodeling, such as cellulase 3 gene (AtCEL3), polygalacturonase 1 (AtPG1), and expandin 24(AtEXPA24) were upregulated. The results suggest that PavHB16 may promote the expression of genes related to cell wall remodeling, ultimately facilitating fruit abscission. In summary, this study cloned the sweet cherry PavHB16 gene and confirmed its function in regulating sweet cherry fruit abscission, which provided new data for further study on the fruit abscission mechanism.
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The data that support the results are included within the article and its supplemental files. Other relevant materials are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.
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The project was supported by Grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32272649), and the National Guidance Foundation for Local Science and Technology Development of China (2023-009), as well as Guizhou Provincial Science and Technology Plan Project [Qianke Foundation-ZK (2021) General 150].
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XPW and ZLQ designed the research. ZLQ carried out the experiments with the help of QDH, ZW, TT, YH, KY, and GQ. ZLQ collected the experimental data and drafted the manuscript. XPW revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Qiu, Z., Hou, Q., Wen, Z. et al. Identification of PavHB16 gene in Prunus avium and validation of its function in Arabidopsis thaliana. Physiol Mol Biol Plants (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-024-01443-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-024-01443-8