title: Allelic variants of the esterase gene W14/15 differentially regulate overwinter survival in perennial gentian (Gentiana L.).
abstract: Overwinter survival has to be under critical regulation in the lifecycle of herbaceous perennial plants. Gentians (Gentiana L.) maintain their perennial life style through producing dormant and freezing-tolerant overwinter buds (OWBs) to overcome cold winter. However, the mechanism acting on such an overwinter survival and the genes/proteins contributing to it have been poorly understood. Previously, we identified an OWB-enriched protein W14/15, a member of a group of α/β hydrolase fold superfamily that is implicated in regulation of hormonal action in plants. The W14/15 gene has more than ten variant types in Gentiana species. However, roles of the W14/15 gene in OWB survival and functional difference among those variants have been unclear. In the present study, we examined whether the W14/15 gene variants are involved in the mechanism acting on overwinter survival, by crossing experiments using cultivars carrying different W14/15 variant alleles and virus-induced gene silencing experiments. We found that particular types of the W14/15 variants (W15a types) contributed toward obtaining high ability of overwinter survival, while other types (W14b types) did not, or even interfered with the former type gene. This study demonstrates two findings; first, contribution of esterase genes to winter hardiness, and second, paired set or paired partner among the allelic variants determines the ability of overwinter survival.
authors.affiliation: United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Iwate University, Morioka, Iwate, 020-8550, Japan.|Hachimantai City Floricultural Research and Development Center, Hachimantai, Iwate, 028-7592, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hikage
authors.affiliation: United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Iwate University, Morioka, Iwate, 020-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yamagishi
authors.affiliation: Cryobiofrontier Research Center, Iwate University, Morioka, Iwate, 020-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Yui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Iwate University, Morioka, Iwate, 020-8550, Japan.|Cryobiofrontier Research Center, Iwate University, Morioka, Iwate, 020-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Saitoh
authors.affiliation: United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Iwate University, Morioka, Iwate, 020-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.affiliation: United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Iwate University, Morioka, Iwate, 020-8550, Japan. kentsu@iwate-u.ac.jp.|Cryobiofrontier Research Center, Iwate University, Morioka, Iwate, 020-8550, Japan. kentsu@iwate-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Ken-Ichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsutsumi
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D004950:Esterases / Q000235:genetics*; D035264:Flowers / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D005615:Freezing; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D030012:Gentiana / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D004950:Esterases
keywords: Apple latent spherical virus; Bud dormancy; Gene silencing; Gentiana triflora; Overwinter bud; Winter survival