title: Physiological changes in fruit ripening caused by overexpression of tomato SlAN2, an R2R3-MYB factor.
abstract: The R2R3-MYB protein SlAN2 has long been thought to be a positive regulator of anthocyanin accumulation. To investigate the role of SlAN2, we have previously overexpressed the gene in tomato. In this work, we analysed physiological characters of the transgenic plants during the fruit ripening. We show that fruits of transformants overexpressing SlAN2 displayed an orange colour, fast softening and elevated ethylene production. Overexpression of SlAN2 resulted in reduction of carotenoid levels via alteration of flux through the carotenoid pathway, elevated ethylene synthesis mainly via upregulation of ethylene biosynthesis genes, and early softening of fruits. We also found that the transcript level of SlRIN, an important ripening-related gene, was up-regulated in transgenic fruits. These results suggest that SlAN2 acts as an important regulator of fruit ripening.
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, PR China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, PR China.
authors.forename: Dongyue
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, PR China.
authors.forename: Shuya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Stress Research, College of Life Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, Shandong 250014, PR China. Electronic address: suina800101@163.com.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sui
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, PR China. Electronic address: qwmeng@sdau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qingwei
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Meng
mesh_terms: D002338:Carotenoids / Q000378:metabolism*; D005030:Ethylenes / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D005638:Fruit / Q000378:metabolism*; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010641:Phenotype; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005030:Ethylenes; D010940:Plant Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D002338:Carotenoids; C036216:ethylene
keywords: Ethylene; Fruit ripening; MYB transcription factor; SlAN2; Tomato