著者

Yutaro Osako Hisayo Yamane Ryunhee Kim Hisashi Miyagawa Ryutaro Tao

出版者

The Japanese Society for Horticultural Science

雑誌

The Horticulture Journal (ISSN:21890102)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.UTD-352, (Released:2022-05-19)

被引用文献数

1

---

Seed size affects the edible portion rate of lychee fruit and is therefore an important trait for fruit quality in lychee (Litchi chinensis). Lychee fruits can be classified into four categories in terms of seed properties: normal, small, aborted seed and seedless. ‘Salathiel’ is known to bear a relatively high rate of aborted-seeded (pseudo-parthenocarpy, stenospermocarpy) and seedless (parthenocarpy) fruit regardless of environmental and cultivation conditions. In other horticultural fruit crops, such as tomato, auxin metabolism and signaling is critical for parthenocarpy, although auxin metabolism has not been characterized in relation to (pseudo) parthenocarpy in lychee. The purpose of this study was to characterize the physiological and morphological properties of maternal reproductive organs in ‘Salathiel’ female flowers, with a specific focus on the associated auxin metabolism. Microscopic observations of the internal structures of the ‘Salathiel’ embryo revealed that ‘Salathiel’ reproductive organ differentiation is similar to that of normal-seeded cultivars. However, the obturator was significantly smaller in ‘Salathiel’ than in other normal-seeded cultivars, suggesting that specific developmental characteristics may exist in the maternal reproductive organs of ‘Salathiel’. Our investigation of indole acetic acid (IAA) contents revealed that IAA levels were significantly higher in ‘Salathiel’ than in other cultivars. Moreover, the IAA metabolite contents also differed significantly between ‘Salathiel’ and the normal-seeded and small-seeded cultivars. Specifically, N-3-hydroxy-2-oxindole-3-acetyl glutamic acid contents were significantly higher in ‘Salathiel’ than in ‘Yu Her Pau’ and ‘Hei Ye’. 3-hydroxy-2-oxindole-3-acetic acid was lower in ‘Yu Her Pau’ and ‘Salathiel’ than in ‘Hei Ye’, while indole-acetylaspartic acid was significantly lower in ‘Salathiel’ compared to ‘Hei Ye’. Expression analyses of the genes related to auxin biosynthesis, catabolism, transport, and signaling indicated that the IAA influx-related and efflux-related gene expression levels were respectively higher and lower in ‘Salathiel’ than in the other cultivars, which is consistent with the increased IAA accumulation in the ‘Salathiel’ ovary. The possible involvement of auxin metabolism in the aborted-seeded and seedless fruit production in ‘Salathiel’ is discussed herein.

著者

Masafumi Omori Yosuke Fujiwara Hisayo Yamane Kenji Miura Ryutaro Tao

出版者

The Japanese Society for Horticultural Science

雑誌

The Horticulture Journal (ISSN:21890102)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.QH-062, (Released:2023-06-14)

---

Evaluating the function of genes expressed in fruit tissues of fruit tree species using a genetic transformation approach is a long process because the trees are generally recalcitrant to genetic transformation and cannot bear fruit during their long juvenile phases. Transient gene expression in fruit enables the functional analysis of genes associated with fruit traits, which may accelerate the study of fruit physiology. Here, by using the recently developed “Tsukuba system”, we successfully established an efficient transient expression system in harvested fruit tissues. The “Tsukuba system” utilizes a combination of the geminiviral replication system and a double terminator, which ensures sufficient levels of transgene expression. We used blueberry fruit as a model to characterize the applicability of this system for transient expression in fruit tissue. The pTKB3-EGFP vector was introduced by agroinfiltration into the fruit tissues of several blueberry cultivars. We found that transient GFP fluorescence in fruit peaked 4–6 days after agroinfiltration. Agrobacterium suspensions were easily injected into soft, mature fruit, and GFP was strongly expressed; however, hard, immature fruit were not penetrable by Agrobacterium suspensions, and GFP was rarely detected. We then tested the applicability of the developed system to other fruit tree species: six families, 17 species, and 26 cultivars. GFP fluorescence was detected in all species, except for Japanese apricot. In blueberry, bilberry, sweet cherry, apricot, and satsuma mandarin, GFP was highly expressed and observed in a large proportion of the flesh. In kiwifruit, hardy kiwifruits, persimmon, peach, apple, European pear, and grape, GFP fluorescence was limited to certain parts of the fruits. Finally, transient VcMYBA1 overexpression in blueberry was tested as a model for gene functional analysis in fruit. Transient VcMYBA1 overexpression induced red pigmentation in the flesh, suggesting that VcMYBA1 expression caused anthocyanin accumulation. This study provides a technical basis for the rapid evaluation of genes expressed in fruit, which will be useful for gene function evaluation studies in fruit crops with long juvenile phases.

著者

Soichiro Nishiyama Noriyuki Onoue Atsushi Kono Akihiko Sato Koichiro Ushijima Hisayo Yamane Ryutaro Tao Keizo Yonemori

出版者

The Japanese Society for Horticultural Science

雑誌

The Horticulture Journal (ISSN:21890102)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.OKD-140, (Released:2018-02-01)

被引用文献数

11

---

Persimmon (Diospyros kaki) is a tree crop species that originated in East Asia, consists mainly of hexaploid individuals (2n = 6x = 90) with some nonaploid individuals. One of the unique characteristics of persimmon is the continuous accumulation of proanthocyanidins (PAs) in its fruit until the middle of fruit development, resulting in a strong astringent taste even at commercial fruit maturity. Among persimmon cultivars, pollination-constant and non-astringent (PCNA) types cease PA accumulation in early fruit development and become non-astringent at commercial maturity. PCNA is an allelic trait to non-PCNA and is controlled by a single locus called the ASTRINGENCY (AST) locus. Previous segregation analyses indicated that the AST locus shows hexasomic inheritance; a recessive allele, ast, at this locus confers PCNA. Here, we report a shuttle mapping approach to delimit the AST locus region in the hexaploid persimmon genome by using D. lotus, a diploid relative of D. kaki, as a reference. A D. lotus F1 population of 333 individuals and 296 D. kaki siblings segregating for the PCNA trait were used to map the AST region using haplotype-specific markers covering the AST region. This indicated that the AST locus is syntenic to an approximately 915-kb region of the D. lotus genome. In this 915-kb region, we found several candidates for AST that were revealed from the fruit transcriptome of a population segregating for the PCNA trait. These results could provide important clues for the isolation of AST in hexaploid persimmon.

著者

Tsuyoshi Habu Hisayo Yamane Ippei Naito Soichiro Nishiyama Ayumi Nonaka Takashi Kawai Hisashi Yamada Ryutaro Tao

出版者

一般社団法人 園芸学会

雑誌

The Horticulture Journal (ISSN:21890102)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.MI-119, (Released:2016-02-09)

被引用文献数

8

---

Japanese persimmon ‘Totsutanenashi’ (TTN) is a spontaneous small fruit mutant derived from ‘Hiratanenashi’ (HTN). To characterize the small fruit phenotype of TTN, we carried out a histological analysis, plant growth regulator treatments, and a transcriptome analysis using Illumina sequencing. The parenchymal cell number in TTN fruit was significantly less than in HTN fruit, and the parenchymal cell size in TTN fruit was also significantly smaller than that in HTN fruit at the later growing stage. However, the fruit size of TTN recovered by cytokinin treatments [50 or 200 ppm N-(2-chloro-4-pyridyl)-N′-phenylurea]. Thus, diminished cytokinin activity in TTN fruits may lead to less cell division in the early growing stage and less cell enlargement in the later growing stage. A large-scale transcriptome analysis was conducted using Illumina sequencing to determine the differences in gene expressions between TTN and HTN fruits. Illumina sequences were processed, resulting in 21,662,190 read pairs from HTN and 23,195,203 read pairs from TTN. After assembly of all sequences from HTN and TTN, 118,985 contigs (referred to as unigenes hereafter) ranging from 201 to 11,954 bases, with an average length of 915 bases, were obtained. Digital expression analyses revealed that the expression levels of 164 unigenes were significantly higher in HTN than in TTN, while the expression levels of 265 unigenes were significantly higher in TTN. A parametric analysis of gene set enrichment using the expression levels of unigenes showed that the biological process Gene Ontology categories of “cell cycle” and “regulation of cell cycle” were significantly down-regulated in TTN. The cell cycle-related differentially expressed genes included D3-type cyclin and Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinase Kinase. Based on the obtained results, the possible involvement of cell cycle-related genes in regulating the small fruit phenotype in TTN is discussed.

著者

Hisayo Yamane

出版者

園芸学会

雑誌

Journal of the Japanese Society for Horticultural Science (ISSN:18823351)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.CH-Rev4, (Released:2014-05-01)

被引用文献数

4 49

---

Bud dormancy allows most deciduous fruit tree species to avoid injury in unsuitable environments, synchronize their annual growth, and adapt to a temperate zone climate. Because bud dormancy affects next season’s fruit production and vegetative growth, it is considered one of the most important physiological factors that control fruit production. Recent global climate changes require us to better understand the genetic factors regulating bud dormancy, especially those that induce dormancy release and subsequent bud break. In this review, environmental factors that affect the seasonal dormancy depth of Japanese apricot (P. mume Siebold & Zucc.) and peach [P. persica (L.) Batsch] are first outlined. Next, recent progress of genetic, biochemical, and molecular biological studies of Prunus dormancy regulation is described. Recent advances in functional genomics have promoted the discovery of gene function and gene networks associated with bud dormancy regulation. A group of candidate genes for bud dormancy regulation, the DORMANCY-ASSOCIATED MADS-box (DAM) genes in Prunus, are focused. Recently reported expressional analysis suggests a significant role for DAMs in dormancy release and bud break of Japanese apricot and peach vegetative buds. Transformation studies of PmDAM6 have demonstrated that it has an inhibitory effect on the apical growth of poplar (Populus spp.). As bud dormancy is a quantitative polygenic trait, not only DAMs, but also other genes and gene networks appear to regulate bud dormancy. Ongoing and future studies will undoubtedly facilitate the unveiling of the molecular aspects of bud dormancy regulation in temperate fruit tree species of Prunus.