title: Transcriptomic signatures in seeds of apple (Malus domestica L. Borkh) during fruitlet abscission.
abstract: Abscission is the regulated process of detachment of an organ from a plant. In apple the abscission of fruits occurs during their early development to control the fruit load depending on the nutritional state of the plant. In order to control production and obtain fruits with optimal market qualities, the horticultural procedure of thinning is performed to further reduce the number of fruitlets. In this study we have conducted a transcriptomic profiling of seeds from two different types of fruitlets, according to size and position in the fruit cluster. Transcriptomic profiles of central and lateral fruit seeds were obtained by RNAseq. Comparative analysis was performed by the functional categorization of differentially expressed genes by means of Gene Ontology (GO) annotation of the apple genome. Our results revealed the overexpression of genes involved in responses to stress, hormone biosynthesis and also the response and/or transport of auxin and ethylene. A smaller set of genes, mainly related to ion transport and homeostasis, were found to be down-regulated. The transcriptome characterization described in this manuscript contributes to unravelling the molecular mechanisms and pathways involved in the physiological abscission of apple fruits and suggests a role for seeds in this process.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di BioScienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ferrero
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Carretero-Paulet
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di BioScienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Marta Adelina
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mendes
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals, and Environment, University of Padova, Agripolis, Legnaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Botton
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals, and Environment, University of Padova, Agripolis, Legnaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Eccher
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di BioScienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Masiero
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di BioScienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Colombo
mesh_terms: D027845:Malus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D012639:Seeds / Q000378:metabolism*; D059467:Transcriptome