Affiliation:
1. The Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Biology, Ministry of Education, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China
2. Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
Abstract
AbstractStems serve as key determinants of plant development by connecting and supporting parts of the plant body, transporting nutrients important for long-distance communication that affect crop yield, and producing new organs. Nonetheless, studies on the regulation of stem development in crops are rather limited. Here, we found a significant correlation (P<0.001) between stem diameter (SD) and fruit size in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). We performed a genome-wide association study and identified a novel quantitative trait locus (QTL), SDR9 (stem diameter regulator on CHROMOSOME 9), that co-localized with a gene encoding a kinase-interacting family protein (KIP), which is the most likely candidate gene related to SD (hereafter referred to as SD1). Overexpression of SD1 in thin-stem accessions resulted in increased SD. In contrast, suppressed expression of SD1 in thick-stem accessions using RNA interference exhibited the opposite effect. Further microscopic analyses showed that SD1 affected the stem diameter by controlling the size and number of secondary phloem cells. An 11-bp indel in the promoter region of SD1 that disrupts a gibberellin-responsive cis-element was linked to SD. Expression analysis revealed that SD1 was mainly expressed at the cambium of the stem and positively regulates stem development. Evolutionary analysis revealed that the thick-stem allele of SD1 was selected during the recent process of tomato improvement. Our results provide novel genetic and molecular insight into natural variation of SD in tomato and may accelerate the breeding of high yield tomato.
Funder
National Key Research & Development Plan
National Natural Science Foundation of China
China Agricultural Research System
Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops, Ministry of Agriculture
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China
China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Cited by
14 articles.
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