title: A cucurbit androecy gene reveals how unisexual flowers develop and dioecy emerges.
abstract: Understanding the evolution of sex determination in plants requires identifying the mechanisms underlying the transition from monoecious plants, where male and female flowers coexist, to unisexual individuals found in dioecious species. We show that in melon and cucumber, the androecy gene controls female flower development and encodes a limiting enzyme of ethylene biosynthesis, ACS11. ACS11 is expressed in phloem cells connected to flowers programmed to become female, and ACS11 loss-of-function mutants lead to male plants (androecy). CmACS11 represses the expression of the male promoting gene CmWIP1 to control the development and the coexistence of male and female flowers in monoecious species. Because monoecy can lead to dioecy, we show how a combination of alleles of CmACS11 and CmWIP1 can create artificial dioecy.
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Université d'Evry, Université Paris-Diderot, Bâtiment 630, 91405, Orsay, France.
authors.forename: Adnane
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boualem
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Université d'Evry, Université Paris-Diderot, Bâtiment 630, 91405, Orsay, France.
authors.forename: Christelle
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Troadec
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Université d'Evry, Université Paris-Diderot, Bâtiment 630, 91405, Orsay, France.
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Camps
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Université d'Evry, Université Paris-Diderot, Bâtiment 630, 91405, Orsay, France.
authors.forename: Afef
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lemhemdi
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Université d'Evry, Université Paris-Diderot, Bâtiment 630, 91405, Orsay, France.
authors.forename: Halima
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Morin
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie et Biochimie Pharmacologiques et Toxicologiques, CNRS, UMR 8601, Université René Descartes, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Marie-Agnes
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sari
authors.affiliation: The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Rina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fraenkel-Zagouri
authors.affiliation: The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kovalski
authors.affiliation: INRA, UR 1052, Unité de Génétique et d'Amélioration des Fruits et Légumes, BP 94, F-84143 Montfavet, France.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dogimont
authors.affiliation: The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Perl-Treves
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Université d'Evry, Université Paris-Diderot, Bâtiment 630, 91405, Orsay, France. bendahm@evry.inra.fr.
authors.forename: Abdelhafid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bendahmane
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D018553:Cucumis sativus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D019662:Cucurbitaceae / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D005030:Ethylenes / Q000096:biosynthesis; D035264:Flowers / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D008190:Lyases / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D052585:Phloem / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D019849:Sex Determination Processes / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D005030:Ethylenes; D010940:Plant Proteins; C036216:ethylene; D008190:Lyases; C034693:ethylene forming enzyme