title: The identification of a gene (Cwp1), silenced during Solanum evolution, which causes cuticle microfissuring and dehydration when expressed in tomato fruit.
abstract: One of the most intriguing phenomena of fleshy fruit is the ability to maintain high water content at maturity, even following harvest. This is accomplished by a fruit cuticle that is highly impermeable to water diffusion. In this paper, we report on a novel genotype of tomato, developed via introgression from the wild species Solanum habrochaites, which is characterized by microfissuring of the fruit cuticle and dehydration of the mature fruit. The microfissure/dehydration phenotype is inherited as a single gene, termed Cwp1 (cuticular water permeability). The gene was fine mapped, and its identity was determined by map-based cloning and differential expression analysis in near-isogenic lines. Causality of the Cwp1 gene was shown by the heterologous transgenic expression of the gene in the cultivated tomato, which caused a microfissured fruit cuticle leading to dehydrated fruit. Cwp1 encodes for a protein of unidentified function in the DUF833 domain family. The gene is expressed in the fruit epidermis of the dehydrating genotype harbouring the wild-species introgression, but not in the cultivated tomato. It is expressed only in the primitive green-fruited wild tomato species, but is not expressed in the cultivated Solanum lycopersicum and the closely related Solanum cheesmaniae and Solanum pimpinellifolium, indicating a pre-adaptive role for Cwp1 silencing in the evolution and domestication of the cultivated tomato.
authors: Institute of Field and Garden Crops, ARO, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel.
authors: Ran
authors: R
authors: Hovav
authors: Noam
authors: N
authors: Chehanovsky
authors: Michal
authors: M
authors: Moy
authors: Reinhard
authors: R
authors: Jetter
authors: Arthur A
authors: AA
authors: Schaffer
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D032461:Chromosomes, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005638:Fruit / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D018745:Genome, Plant; D005838:Genotype; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D032322:Solanum / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014867:Water