title: Abscisic acid and sucrose regulate tomato and strawberry fruit ripening through the abscisic acid-stress-ripening transcription factor.
abstract: Although great progress has been made towards understanding the role of abscisic acid (ABA) and sucrose in fruit ripening, the mechanisms underlying the ABA and sucrose signalling pathways remain elusive. In this study, transcription factor ABA-stress-ripening (ASR), which is involved in the transduction of ABA and sucrose signalling pathways, was isolated and analysed in the nonclimacteric fruit, strawberry and the climacteric fruit, tomato. We have identified four ASR isoforms in tomato and one in strawberry. All ASR sequences contained the ABA stress- and ripening-induced proteins and water-deficit stress-induced proteins (ABA/WDS) domain and all ASR transcripts showed increased expression during fruit development. The expression of the ASR gene was influenced not only by sucrose and ABA, but also by jasmonic acid (JA) and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), and these four factors were correlated with each other during fruit development. ASR bound the hexose transporter (HT) promoter, which contained a sugar box that activated downstream gene expression. Overexpression of the ASR gene promoted fruit softening and ripening, whereas RNA interference delayed fruit ripening, as well as affected fruit physiological changes. Change in ASR gene expression influenced the expression of several ripening-related genes such as CHS, CHI, F3H, DFR, ANS, UFGT, PG, PL, EXP1/2, XET16, Cel1/2 and PME. Taken together, this study may provide new evidence on the important role of ASR in cross-signalling between ABA and sucrose to regulate tomato and strawberry fruit ripening. The findings of this study also provide new insights into the regulatory mechanism underlying fruit development.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Genetics and Fruit Development, Horticultural College, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Haifeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Genetics and Fruit Development, Horticultural College, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Songtao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Genetics and Fruit Development, Horticultural College, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Genetics and Fruit Development, Horticultural College, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Genetics and Fruit Development, Horticultural College, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Pervaiz
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tariq
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Genetics and Fruit Development, Horticultural College, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Zhongjie
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Genetics and Fruit Development, Horticultural College, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Baoju
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Genetics and Fruit Development, Horticultural College, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Liwen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Genetics and Fruit Development, Horticultural College, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China. Fanggg@njau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jinggui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fang
mesh_terms: D000040:Abscisic Acid / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D003517:Cyclopentanes / Q000494:pharmacology; D031985:Fragaria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005638:Fruit / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000187:drug effects; D007210:Indoleacetic Acids / Q000494:pharmacology; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D054883:Oxylipins / Q000494:pharmacology; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D013395:Sucrose / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D003517:Cyclopentanes; D007210:Indoleacetic Acids; D054883:Oxylipins; D010940:Plant Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D013395:Sucrose; C011006:jasmonic acid; C030737:indoleacetic acid; D000040:Abscisic Acid
keywords: abscisic acid; strawberry fruit; sucrose; tomato fruit; transcription factor ASR