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Authors: Qian Zhao, Hao Chen, Dong Zhang and Juanjuan Ma.
Scientia Horticulturae (2023)
Highlights • MdRR9 has an ORF of 648 bp, which showed the highest expression level in the stem and was up-regulated earlier in response to 6-BA than decapitation treatment. • The subcellular localization of MdRR9 was in the nucleus. Ectopic expression of MdRR9 in tomato indicated that MdRR9 plays a positive role in branch control. • Yeast double-hybrid assay showed that MdRR9 may interact with MADS-box transcription factor 22-like (AGL9).
Abstract: "Response regulator 9 (RR9) is a typical member of type-A RRs whose transcription is rapidly increased by exogenous cytokinin (CTK). CTK stimulates the outgrowth of axillary buds in apples (Malus domestica). Previous studies showed that the decreased bud outgrowth activity of type-A rr mutants is paradoxical given that type-A RRs act as negative feedback regulators of CTK signaling in Arabidopsis. However, no systematic study of RR9 has been performed in apples. In this study, the genomic sequences of MdRR9, located on chromosome 14, were obtained. Sequencing identified MdRR9 as having an open reading frame (ORF) of 648 bp. Expression pattern showed MdRR9 has the highest expression level in the stem. MdRR9 was up-regulated earlier in response to 6-benzylaminopurine (6-BA, a synthetic type of CTK) than decapitation treatment. The subcellular localization of MdRR9 was in the nucleus. Ectopic expression of MdRR9 in tomatoes indicates that MdRR9 plays a positive role in branch control. A yeast double-hybrid assay showed that MdRR9 may interact with MADS-box transcription factor 22-like (MdAGL9), which gives us a new perspective to study the regulation of the bud outgrowth mechanism of RR9 in the future."
Abstract: Yang Dong, Jing Liu, Liyuan Huang, Lina Yang, Muhammad Khalil-Ur-Rehman, Huan Zheng and Jianmin Tao.
Environmental and Experimental Botany (2023)
Highlights • VvSVP3 induces callose synthesis and VvPYL9 expression, and simultaneously negatively regulates the GA metabolic pathway to maintain dormancy.
Abstract: "Bud dormancy is an essential and complex physiological process in perennial plants. Abscisic acid (ABA) is the major hormone regulating bud dormancy, however, the gene, SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (SVP) also plays a pivotal role. The combined regulation of SVP and ABA in the endodormancy network remains poorly characterized. In the present study, we demonstrate the growth inhibitory functions of VvSVP3 by its overexpressing it in tobacco and poplar. VvSVP3-overexpressing poplar plants prematurely stopped growing under short day, exhibiting delayed bud break in early spring. VvSVP3 regulates ABA, the gibberellic acid (GA) pathway, and the callose synthesis to promote dormancy within its network. In addition, exogenous application of ABA positively affects VvSVP3 expression. A transcriptomics and proteomics combined approach identified that VvPYL9 is a target gene of VvSVP3, which directly binds to a CArG motif in the VvPYL9 promoter to activate its expression. In summary, our results revealed the feedback regulation between VvSVP3 gene, ABA metabolism, and the dormancy signaling pathway in grape. It also provides new insights into the functional role of callose and ABA regulation in dormancy."
Authors: HANG Jun-nan, WU Bo-wen, QIU Di-yang, YANG Guo, FANG Zhong-ming and ZHANG Ming-yong.
Journal of Integrative Agriculture (2023)
Abstract: "Low-affinity nitrate transporter gene members have been identified in subfamilies 4–8 of the rice nitrate transporter 1/peptide transporter family (NPF), but the OsNPF3 subfamily responsible for nitrate and phytohormone transport and rice growth and development is unknown. In this study, we described OsNPF3.1 as an essential nitrate and phytohormone transporter gene for rice tillering and nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUtE). OsNPF3.1 possesses four major haplotypes of its promoter sequence in 517 cultivars, and its expression is positively associated with tiller number. Its expression was higher in the basal part, culm, and leaf blade than in other parts, and was strongly induced by nitrate, abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellin 3 (GA3) in the root and shoot of rice, respectively. Electrophysiological experiment demonstrated that OsNPF3.1 is a pH-dependent low-affinity nitrate transporter, with rice protoplast uptake assays showing it as an ABA and GA3 transporter. OsNPF3.1 over-expression significantly promoted ABA accumulation in the roots and GA accumulation in the basal part to inhibit axillary bud outgrowth and rice tillering, especially at high nitrate concentrations. The NUtE of OsNPF3.1-overexpressing plants was enhanced under low and medium nitrate concentrations, whereas the NUtE of OsNPF3.1 CRISPR plants was increased under high nitrate concentrations. The results indicate that OsNPF3.1 transports nitrate and phytohormones in different rice tissues under different nitrate concentrations. The altered OsNPF3.1 expression improves NUtE through OsNPF3.1-overexpressing and CRISPR lines at low and high nitrate concentrations, respectively."
Author: Sebastian R. Moreno
Plant Physiology (2023)
Excerpts: "In this issue of Plant Physiology, Cao et al. (2023) provide evidence supporting the role of sucrose as the signal that triggers changes in CK, auxin, and gibberellin (GA) concentrations to modulate bud outgrowth and to sustain bud growth. The researchers observed that in pea (Pisum sativum) buds outside the auxin-depletion region after decapitation, bud release is triggered by sugar-elicited changes in CK levels with the subsequent downregulation of the inhibitory role of SL (Figure 1).
"Unlike CK, application of SL on axillary buds represses bud outgrowth (Gomez-Roldan et al., 2018). However, the crosstalk between SL and CK behind bud outgrowth is not completely understood. In this paper, through quantifying gene expression of several CK-related genes, the authors nicely demonstrated that SL inhibits CK levels by increasing CK degradation and decreasing CK biosynthesis. In addition, the authors quantified bud growth after treating with synthetic CK BAP and GR24 (synthetic SL) treatments. They found that sucrose and CK treatments could overcome SL-inhibited bud release. Thus, the authors established a very clear connection between SL, CK, and sucrose during early stage of bud growth and provided insights into the mechanism responsible for releasing axillary buds."
Authors: Da Cao, Tinashe Chabikwa, Francois Barbier, Elizabeth A. Dun, Franziska Fichtner, Lili Dong, Stephanie C. Kerr and Christine A. Beveridge.
Plant Physiology (2023)
Short summary: Sugars and cytokinin initiate bud release independently of auxin and suppress inhibition by SL. Afterward, auxin in buds regulates gibberellin to promote sustained bud growth.
Abstract: "The inhibition of shoot branching by the growing shoot tip of plants, termed apical dominance, was originally thought to be mediated by auxin. Recently the importance of the shoot tip sink strength during apical dominance has re-emerged with recent studies highlighting roles for sugars in promoting branching. This raises many unanswered questions on the relative roles of auxin and sugars in apical dominance. Here we show that auxin depletion after decapitation is not always the initial trigger of rapid cytokinin increases in buds that are instead correlated with enhanced sugars. Auxin may also act through strigolactones which have been shown to suppress branching after decapitation, but here we show that strigolactones do not have a significant effect on initial bud outgrowth after decapitation. We report here that when sucrose or cytokinin is abundant, strigolactones are less inhibitory during the bud release stage compared to during later stages and that strigolactone treatment rapidly inhibits cytokinin accumulation in pea (Pisum sativum) axillary buds of intact plants. After initial bud release, we find an important role of gibberellin in promoting sustained bud growth downstream of auxin. We are therefore able to suggest a model of apical dominance that integrates auxin, sucrose, strigolactones, cytokinins and gibberellins and describes differences in signalling across stages of bud release to sustained growth."
Authors: Anton Milyaev, Julian Kofler, Yudelsy Antonia Tandron Moya, Janne Lempe, Dario Stefanelli, Magda-Viola Hanke, Henryk Flachowsky, Nicolaus von Wirén and Jens-Norbert Wünsche.
Tree Physiology (2022)
Abstract: "Apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) cropping behavior, if not regulated, is often manifested by high yields of small-sized fruit in so called ON-years, which are usually followed by strongly reduced crop loads in OFF-years. Such cropping pattern is defined as biennial bearing and causes significant losses in apple production. The growth of apple fruit overlaps with the formation of flower buds, which remain dormant until the following spring. Earlier works proposed that some fruit-derived mobile compounds, as e.g., phytohormones, could suppress flower bud formation that thereby leads to biennial bearing. We addressed this hypothesis by analyzing 39 phytohormones in apple seeds, fruit flesh and by measuring phytohormone export from the fruits of the biennial bearing cultivar ‘Fuji’ and of the regular bearing cultivar ‘Gala’. Moreover, we analyzed the same compounds in bourse buds from fruiting (ON-trees) and non-fruiting (OFF-trees) spurs of both apple cultivars over the period of flower bud formation. Our results showed that apple fruit exported at least 14 phytohormones including indole-3-acetic acid and gibberellin A3; however, their influence on flower bud formation was inconclusive. A gibberellin-like compound, which was detected exclusively in bourse buds, was significantly more abundant in bourse buds from ON-trees compared with OFF-trees. Cultivar differences were marked by the accumulation of trans-zeatin-O-glucoside in bourse buds of ‘Gala’ ON-trees, whereas the levels of this compound in ‘Gala’ OFF were significantly lower and comparable to those in ‘Fuji’ ON- and OFF-trees. Particular phytohormones including five cytokinin forms as well as abscisic acid and its degradation products had higher levels in bourse buds from OFF-trees compared with ON-trees and were therefore proposed as potential promotors of flower bud initiation. The work discusses regulatory roles of phytohormones in flower bud formation in apple based on the novel and to date most comprehensive phytohormone profiles of apple fruit and buds."
Authors: Wenxing Chen, Yosuke Tamada, Hisayo Yamane, Miwako Matsushita, Yutaro Osako, Mei Gao-Takai, Zhengrong Luo and Ryutaro Tao.
The Plant Journal (2022)
Abstract: "Bud dormancy helps woody perennials survive winter and activate robust plant development in the spring. For apple (Malus × domestica), short-term chilling induces bud dormancy in autumn, then prolonged chilling leads to dormancy release and a shift to a quiescent state in winter, with subsequent warm periods promoting bud break in spring. Epigenetic regulation contributes to seasonal responses such as vernalization. However, how histone modifications integrate seasonal cues and internal signals during bud dormancy in woody perennials remains largely unknown. Here, we show that H3K4me3 plays a key role in establishing permissive chromatin states during bud dormancy and bud break in apple. The global changes in gene expression strongly correlated with changes in H3K4me3, but not H3K27me3. High expression of DORMANCY-ASSOCIATED MADS-box (DAM) genes, key regulators of dormancy, in autumn was associated with high H3K4me3 levels. In addition, known DAM/SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (SVP) target genes significantly overlapped with H3K4me3-modified genes as bud dormancy progressed. These data suggest that H3K4me3 contributes to the central dormancy circuit, consisting of DAM/SVP and abscisic acid (ABA), in autumn. In winter, the lower expression and H3K4me3 levels at DAMs and gibberellin metabolism genes control chilling-induced release of dormancy. Warming conditions in spring facilitate the expression of genes related to phytohormones, the cell cycle, and cell wall modification by increasing H3K4me3 toward bud break. Our study also revealed that activation of auxin and repression of ABA sensitivity in spring are conditioned at least partly through temperature-mediated epigenetic regulation in winter."
Authors: Khopeno Khuvung, Federico A. O. Silva Gutierrez and Didier Reinhardt.
Frontiers in Plant Science (2022)
Abstract: "Despite its central role in the control of plant architecture, strigolactone has been recognized as a phytohormone only 15 years ago. Together with auxin, it regulates shoot branching in response to genetically encoded programs, as well as environmental cues. A central determinant of shoot architecture is apical dominance, i.e., the tendency of the main shoot apex to inhibit the outgrowth of axillary buds. Hence, the execution of apical dominance requires long-distance communication between the shoot apex and all axillary meristems. While the role of strigolactone and auxin in apical dominance appears to be conserved among flowering plants, the mechanisms involved in bud activation may be more divergent, and include not only hormonal pathways but also sugar signaling. Here, we discuss how spatial aspects of SL biosynthesis, transport, and sensing may relate to apical dominance, and we consider the mechanisms acting locally in axillary buds during dormancy and bud activation."
Authors: Liangmiao Liu, Yiqi Zheng, Shiji Feng, Lei Yu, Yongqiang Li, Yu Zong, Wenrong Chen, Fanglei Liao, Li Yang and Weidong Guo.
Frontiers in Plant Science (2022)
Abstract: "Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) is reputed as a rich source of health-promoting phytonutrients, which contributes to its burgeoning consumer demand and production. However, blueberries are much smaller and have lower yields than most domesticated berries, and the inherent regulatory mechanisms remain elusive. In this study, the cytological and physiological changes, as well as comparative transcriptomic analysis throughout flower and fruit development in the southern highbush blueberry cultivar ‘O’Neal’ were performed. ‘O’Neal’ hypanthium and fruit exhibited a distinctive cell proliferation pattern, and auxin accumulation was unusual throughout development, while abscisic acid (ABA) levels rapidly increased in association with anthocyanin accumulation, total phenolic reduction and fruit maturation. Transcriptomic data showed that many differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were specifically expressed at each flower bud and fruit developmental stage. Further weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) revealed numerous DEGs that correlated with the cell numbers of outer mesocarp and columella, showed two distinctive expression patterns. Most of the DEGs involved in auxin biosynthesis, transportation and signal transduction were upregulated, and this upregulation was accompanied by cell expansion, and flower bud and fruit development. However, individual members of VcSAUR50 and VcIAA9 families might be insensitive to auxin, suggesting that these genes a distinctive role in the growth and development of blueberry fruits. These results will support future research to better understand the flower and fruit development of southern highbush blueberry."
Authors: Daniela Gómez-Soto, Isabel Allona and Mariano Perales.
Frontiers in Plant Science (2022)
Abstract: "The adaptation and survival of boreal and temperate perennials relies on the precise demarcation of the growing season. Seasonal growth and development are defined by day length and temperature signals. Under long-day conditions in spring, poplar FLOWERING LOCUS T2 (FT2) systemically induces shoot growth. In contrast, FT2 downregulation induced by autumnal short days triggers growth cessation and bud set. However, the molecular role of FT2 in local and long-range signaling is not entirely understood. In this study, the CRISPR/Cas9 editing tool was used to generate FT2 loss of function lines of hybrid poplar. Results indicate that FT2 is essential to promote shoot apex development and restrict internode elongation under conditions of long days. The application of bioactive gibberellins (GAs) to apical buds in FT2 loss of function lines was able to rescue bud set. Expression analysis of GA sensing and metabolic genes and hormone quantification revealed that FT2 boosts the 13-hydroxylation branch of the GA biosynthesis pathway in the shoot apex. Paclobutrazol treatment of WT leaves led to limited internode growth in the stem elongation zone. In mature leaves, FT2 was found to control the GA 13-hydroxylation pathway by increasing GA2ox1 and reducing GA3ox2 expression, causing reduced GA1 levels. We here show that in poplar, the FT2 signal promotes shoot apex development and restricts internode elongation through the GA 13-hydroxylation pathway."
Authors: Wenqiang Pan, Jiahui Liang, Juanjuan Sui, Jingru Li, Chang Liu, Yin Xin, Yanmin Zhang, Shaokun Wang, Yajie Zhao, Jie Zhang, Mingfang Yi, Sonia Gazzarrini and Jian Wu.
Genes (2021)
Abstract: "Bud dormancy is an evolved trait that confers adaptation to harsh environments, and affects flower differentiation, crop yield and vegetative growth in perennials. ABA is a stress hormone and a major regulator of dormancy. Although the physiology of bud dormancy is complex, several advancements have been achieved in this field recently by using genetics, omics and bioinformatics methods. Here, we review the current knowledge on the role of ABA and environmental signals, as well as the interplay of other hormones and sucrose, in the regulation of this process. We also discuss emerging potential mechanisms in this physiological process, including epigenetic regulation."
Authors: Minglei Yi, Heyu Yang, Shaohui Yang and Jiehua Wang.
bioRxiv (2021)
Abstract: "Plant branching is usually prevented by an actively proliferating apex. In poplars, one GRAS family member, SHORT-ROOT2 (PtSHR2), was preferentially expressed in axillary buds (AXBs) and was inducible during bud maturation and activation. Overexpression of PtSHR2 (PtSHR2OE) in hybrid poplar impaired the apical dominance and simultaneously promoted the outgrowth of axillary branches below the maturation point (BMP), accompanied by regulated expression of genes critical for axillary meristem initiation and bud formation. Following a detained phenotypic characterization, we compared the IAA and trans-zeatin levels in apical shoots and AXBs of wild-type and PtSHR2OE trees, together with gene expression analyses and defoliation, decapitation, and hormone reapplication assays. PtSHR2OE AXBs contained a significantly lower ratio of auxin to cytokinin than wild-type AXBs, particularly in those below the BMP. Decapitation induced a faster bud burst in PtSHR2OE trees than in wild-type plants, and it could be strongly inhibited by exogenously applied auxin and cytokinin biosynthesis inhibitor, but only partially inhibited by N-1-naphthylphthalamic acid (NPA). An impaired basipetal auxin transport, rather than an insufficient auxin biosynthesis or auxin insensitivity, disturbed the local hormonal homeostasis in PtSHR2OE AXBs, which in turn enhanced the axillary bud initiation and promoted the bud release."
Authors: Xinhao Zhang, Hongyan Shen, Binbin Wen, Sen Li, Chen Xu, Yu Gai, Xiangguang Meng, Huajie He, Ning Wang, Dongmei Li, Xiude Chen, Wei Xiao, Xiling Fu, Qiuping Tan and Ling Li.
Plant Science (2021)
Highlights: • BTB-TAZ Domain Protein PpBT3 could modulates peach bud endodormancy. • BTB-TAZ Domain Protein PpBT3 could interact with PpDAM5. • Over-expressing PpBT3 in A. thaliana promoted seed germination. • Over-expressing PpBT3 in A. thaliana conferred resistance to ABA-mediated germination inhibition.
Abstract: "The dormancy-associated MADS-box (DAM) gene DAM5 has crucial roles in bud endodormancy; however, the molecular regulatory mechanism of PpDAM5 in peach (Prunus persica) has not been elucidated. In this study, using yeast two-hybrid screening, we isolated a BTB-TAZ Domain Protein PpBT3, which interacts with PpDAM5 protein, in the peach cultivar ‘Chun xue’. As expected, we found that abscisic acid (ABA) maintained bud endodormancy and induced expression of the PpDAM5 gene, and that over-expressing PpDAM5 in Arabidopsis thaliana repressed seed germination. In contrast, over-expressing PpBT3 in A. thaliana promoted seed germination, and conferred resistance to ABA-mediated germination inhibition. Additionally, a qRT-PCR (quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction) experiment suggested that the transcript level of PpBT3 gradually increased towards the endodormancy release period, which is the opposite trend of the expression pattern of PpDAM5. Our results suggest that PpBT3 modulates peach bud endodormancy by interacting with PpDAM5, thus revealing a new mechanism for regulating bud dormancy of perennial deciduous trees."
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Authors: Raz Danieli, Shmuel Assouline, Bolaji Babajide Salam, Ondřej Vrobel, Paula Teper-Bamnolker, Eduard Belausov, David Granot, Petr Tarkowski and Dani Eshel.
Plant, Cell & Environment (2023)
Abstract: "Endodormancy (ED) is a crucial stage in the life cycle of many perennial plants. ED release requires accumulating a certain amount of cold exposure, measured as chilling units. However, the mechanism governing the effect of chilling on ED duration is poorly understood. We used the potato tuber model to investigate the response to chilling as associated with ED release. We measured the accumulation of specific sugars during and after chilling, defined as sugar units. We discovered that ED duration correlated better with sugar units accumulation than chilling units. A logistic function was developed based on sugar units measurements to predict ED duration. Knockout or overexpression of the vacuolar invertase gene (StVInv) unexpectedly modified sugar units levels and extended or shortened ED, respectively. Silencing the energy sensor SNF1-related protein kinase 1, induced higher sugar units accumulation and shorter ED. Sugar units accumulation induced by chilling or transgenic lines reduced plasmodesmal (PD) closure in the dormant bud meristem. Chilling or knockout of abscisic acid (ABA) 8′-hydroxylase induced ABA accumulation, in parallel to sweetening, and antagonistically promoted PD closure. Our results suggest that chilling induce sugar units and ABA accumulation, resulting in antagonistic signals for symplastic connection of the dormant bud."
Authors: Christine A Beveridge, Catherine Rameau, Akila Wijerathna-Yapa.
Jornal of Experimental Botany (2023)
Abstract: "The process of apical dominance by which the apical bud/shoot tip of the plant inhibits the outgrowth of axillary buds located below has been studied for more than a century. Different approaches were used over time with first the physiology era, the genetic era, and then the multidisciplinary era. During the physiology era, auxin was thought of as the master regulator of apical dominance acting indirectly to inhibit bud outgrowth via unknown secondary messenger(s). Potential candidates were cytokinin (CK) and abscisic acid (ABA). The genetic era with the screening of shoot branching mutants in different species revealed the existence of a novel carotenoid-derived branching inhibitor and led to the significant discovery of strigolactones (SLs) as a novel class of plant hormones. The re-discovery of the major role of sugars in apical dominance emerged from modern physiology experiments and involves ongoing work with genetic material affected in sugar-signalling. As crops and natural selection rely on the emergent properties of networks such as this branching network, future work should explore the whole network, the details of which are critical but not individually sufficient to solve the wicked problems of sustainable food supply and climate change."
Authors: Han Dong, Jiachun Wang, Xuewei Song, Chaoyi Hu, Changan Zhu, Ting Sun, Zhiwen Zhou, Zhangjian Hu, Xiaojian Xia , Jie Zhou , Kai Shi, Yanhong Zhou, Christine H. Foyer and Jingquan Yu.
PNAS (2023)
Significance: The orchestration of shoot architecture, which is a major determinant of crop productivity, requires the regulated suppression or activation of -bud outgrowth. We show that light quality regulated tomato bud outgrowth is dependent on the mobile signaling protein HY5 and that HY5 dependent light signaling alone is sufficient to regulate bud outgrowth. HY5 promotes bud growth by direct and brassinosteroid mediated suppression of BRC1. BRC1 blocks the accumulation of cytokinin and gibberellin that regulate bud growth in tomato. In this way, HY5 represses gibberellin mediated stem elongation during photomorphogenesis while activating branching through BRC1 dependent phytohormone regulation. The HY5–BRC1 module thus plays predominant roles in the shoot architecture by orchestrating light quality dependent changes in stem elongation and bud outgrowth.
Abstract: "Light plays an important role in determining plant architecture, which greatly influences crop yield. However, the precise mechanisms by which light signaling regulates bud outgrowth remain to be identified. Here, we show that light regulates bud outgrowth via both HY5 and brassinosteroid (BR)-dependent pathways in tomato. Inactivation of the red-light photoreceptor PHYB, or deficiencies in PHYB or the blue-light photoreceptor CRY1a, inhibits bud outgrowth and leads to decreased accumulation of HY5 protein and increased transcript level of BRANCHED1 (BRC1), a central integrator of branching signals. HY5, functioning as a mobile systemic signal from leaves, promotes bud outgrowth by directly suppressing BRC1 transcript and activating the transcript of BR biosynthesis genes within the lateral buds in tomato. Furthermore, BRC1 prevents the accumulation of cytokinin (CK) and gibberellin (GA) by directly inhibiting the transcript of CK synthesis gene LOG4, while increasing the transcript levels of CK and GA degradation genes (CKX7, GA2ox4, and GA2ox5), leading to an arrest of bud outgrowth. Moreover, bud outgrowth occurs predominantly in the day due to the suppression of BRC1 transcript by HY5. These findings demonstrate that light-inducible HY5 acts as a systemic signaling factor in fine-tuning the bud outgrowth of tomato."
Authors: Manikandan Veerabagu, Christiaan van der Schoot, Veronika Turečková, Danuše Tarkowská, Miroslav Strnad and Päivi L.H. Rinne.
Plant, Cell & Environment (2023)
Abstract: "Perennial para- and endo-dormancy are seasonally separate phenomena. Whereas para-dormancy is the suppression of axillary buds (AXBs) by a growing shoot, endo-dormancy is the short-day elicited arrest of terminal and AXBs. In hybrid aspen (Populus tremula x P. tremuloides) compromising the apex releases para-dormancy, whereas endo-dormancy requires chilling. ABA and GA are implicated in both phenomena. To untangle their roles, we blocked ABA biosynthesis with fluridone (FD), which significantly reduced ABA levels, downregulated GA-deactivation genes, upregulated the major GA3ox-biosynthetic genes, and initiated branching. Comprehensive GA-metabolite analyses suggested that FD treatment shifted GA production to the non-13-hydroxylation pathway, enhancing GA4 function. Applied ABA counteracted FD effects on GA metabolism and downregulated several GA3/4-inducible α- and γ-clade 1,3-β-glucanases that hydrolyse callose at plasmodesmata (PD), thereby enhancing PD-callose accumulation. Remarkably, ABA-deficient plants repressed GA4 biosynthesis and established endo-dormancy like controls but showed increased stress sensitivity. Repression of GA4 biosynthesis involved short-day induced DNA methylation events within the GA3ox2 promoter. In conclusion, the results cast new light on the roles of ABA and GA in dormancy cycling. In para-dormancy, PD-callose turnover is antagonized by ABA, whereas in short-day conditions, lack of GA4 biosynthesis promotes callose deposition that is structurally persistent throughout endo-dormancy."
Authors: Jack H. Kelly, Matthew R. Tucker and Philip B. Brewer.
Biology (2023)
Abstract: "Due to their sessile nature, plants have developed the ability to adapt their architecture in response to their environment. Branching is an integral component of plant architecture, where hormonal signals tightly regulate bud outgrowth. Strigolactones (SLs), being a novel class of phytohormone, are known to play a key role in branching decisions, where they act as a negative regulator of bud outgrowth. They can achieve this by modulating polar auxin transport to interrupt auxin canalisation, and independently of auxin by acting directly within buds by promoting the key branching inhibitor TEOSINTE BRANCHED1. Buds will grow out in optimal conditions; however, when conditions are sub-optimal, SL levels increase to restrict branching. This can be a problem in agricultural applications, as reductions in branching can have deleterious effects on crop yield. Variations in promoter elements of key SL-related genes, such as IDEAL PLANT ARCHITECTURE1, have been identified to promote a phenotype with enhanced yield performance. In this review we highlight how this knowledge can be applied using new technologies to develop new genetic variants for improving crop shoot architecture and yield."
Authors: Da Cao, François Barbier, Elizabeth A. Dun, Franziska Fichtner, Lili Dong, Stephanie C. Kerr and Christine A Beveridge.
bioRxiv (2022)
Abstract: "The inhibition of shoot branching by the growing shoot tip of plants, termed apical dominance, was originally thought to be mediated by auxin. Recently the importance of the shoot tip sink strength during apical dominance has re-emerged with recent studies highlighting roles for sugars in promoting branching. This raises many unanswered questions on the relative roles of auxin and sugars in apical dominance. Here we show that auxin regulation of cytokinins, which promote branching, is significant only after an initial stage of branching we call bud release. During this early bud release stage, rapid cytokinin increases are associated with enhanced sugars. Auxin may also act through strigolactones which have been shown to suppress branching after decapitation, but here we show that strigolactones do not have a significant effect on initial bud outgrowth after decapitation. We report here that when sucrose or cytokinin is abundant, strigolactones are less inhibitory during the bud release stage compared to later stages and that strigolactone treatment rapidly inhibits cytokinin accumulation in pea axillary buds of intact plants. After initial bud release, we find an important role of gibberellin in promoting sustained bud growth downstream of auxin. We are therefore able to suggest a model of apical dominance that integrates auxin, sucrose, strigolactones, cytokinins and gibberellins and describes differences in signalling across stages of bud release to sustained growth."
Authors: Yuzheng Zhang, Qiuping Tan, Ning Wang, Xiangguang Meng, Huajie He, Binbin Wen, Wei Xiao, Xiude Chen, Dongmei Li, Xiling Fu and Ling Li.
Frontiers in Plant Science (2022)
Abstract: "Bud dormancy, which enables damage from cold temperatures to be avoided during winter and early spring, is an important adaptive mechanism of deciduous fruit trees to cope with seasonal environmental changes and temperate climates. Understanding the regulatory mechanism of bud break in fruit trees is highly important for the artificial control of bud break and the prevention of spring frost damage. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the involvement of MYB TFs during the bud break of peach is still unclear. In this study, we isolated and identified the PpMYB52 (Prupe.5G240000.1) gene from peach; this gene is downregulated in the process of bud break, upregulated in response to ABA and downregulated in response to GA. Overexpression of PpMYB52 suppresses the germination of transgenic tomato seeds. In addition, Y2H, Bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) assays verified that PpMYB52 interacts with a RING-type E3 ubiquitin ligase, PpMIEL1, which is upregulated during bud break may positively regulate peach bud break by ubiquitination-mediated degradation of PpMYB52. Our findings are the first to characterize the molecular mechanisms underlying the involvement of MYB TFs in peach bud break, increasing awareness of dormancy-related molecules to avoid bud damage in perennial deciduous fruit trees."
Authors: Feng-Pan Wang, Pan-Pan Zhao, Lei Zhang, Heng Zhai, Muhammad Abid and Yuan-Peng Du.
Frontiers in Plant Science (2022(
Abstract: "Dormancy is a common survival strategy in plants to temporarily suspend visible growth under unsuitable conditions. The elaborate mechanism underlying bud break in perennial woody plants is gradually illustrated. Here, we identified a grape vine WRKY transcription factor, VvWRKY37, which was highly expressed in dormant buds. It was particularly induced by the application of exogenous abscisic acid, and depressed on exposure to gibberellin and low temperature (4°C) stress at the transcript level. The yeast one-hybrid assay confirmed that VvWRKY37 had a transcriptional activity. Ectopic over-expression of VvWRKY37 significantly delayed bud break of transgenic poplar plants. As an ABA-inducible gene, VvWRKY37 also depressed the expression of ABA catabolic gene CYP707As and enhanced the accumulation of endogenous ABA in transgenic poplar plants. The molecular pieces of evidence showed that VvWRKY37 preferentially recognized and bound W-box 5′-G/CATTGACT/C/G-3′ cis-element in vitro. Additionally, VvABI5 and VvABF2 acted as the upstream transcriptional activators of VvWRKY37 via protein-DNA interactions. Taken together, our findings provided valuable insights into a new regulatory mechanism of WRKY TF by which it modulates bud break through ABA-mediated signaling pathways."
Authors: Minglei Yi, Heyu Yang, Shaohui Yang and Jiehua Wang.
Journal of Experimental Botany (2022)
Abstract: "SHORT-ROOT (SHR) transcription factors play important roles in asymmetric cell division and radial patterning of Arabidopsis root. In hybrid poplar (P. tremula × P. alba clone INRA 717-1B4), PtaSHR2 was preferentially expressed in axillary buds (AXBs) and transcriptionally upregulated during AXB maturation and activation. Overexpression of SHR2 (PtSHR2OE) induced an enhanced outgrowth of AXBs below the bud maturation point with a simultaneous transition of an active shoot apex into an arrested terminal bud. The larger and more mature AXBs of PtSHR2OE trees revealed altered expression levels of genes involved in axillary meristem initiation and bud activation as well as a higher ratio of cytokinin to auxin. With the aim to elucidate the underlying mechanism of PtSHR2OE-induced high branching, subsequent molecular and biochemical studies showed that compared to wild-type trees, decapitation induced a quicker bud outburst in PtSHR2OE trees, which could be fully inhibited by exogenous application of auxin or cytokinin biosynthesis inhibitor, but not by N-1-naphthylphthalamic acid. Our results indicated that overexpression of PtSHR2B disturbed the internal hormonal balance in AXBs by interfering with the basipetal transport of auxin, rather than causing auxin biosynthesis deficiency or auxin insensitivity, thereby releasing mature AXBs from the apical dominance and promoting their outgrowth."
Authors: Alba Lloret, Carles Quesada-Traver, Ana Conejero, Vicent Arbona, Concepción Gómez-Mena, César Petri, Jesús A. Sánchez-Navarro, Elena Zuriaga, Carmen Leida, María Luisa Badenes and Gabino Ríos.
Horticulture Research (2021)
Abstract: "DORMANCY-ASSOCIATED MADS-BOX (DAM) genes have recently emerged as key potential regulators of the dormancy cycle and climate adaptation in perennial species. Particularly, PpeDAM6 has been proposed to act as a major repressor of bud dormancy release and bud break in peach (Prunus persica). PpeDAM6 expression is downregulated concomitantly with the perception of a given genotype-dependent accumulation of winter chilling time, and the coincident enrichment in H3K27me3 chromatin modification at a specific genomic region. We have identified three peach BASIC PENTACYSTEINE PROTEINs (PpeBPCs) interacting with two GA-repeat motifs present in this H3K27me3-enriched region. Moreover, PpeBPC1 represses PpeDAM6 promoter activity by transient expression experiments. On the other hand, the heterologous overexpression of PpeDAM6 in European plum (Prunus domestica) alters plant vegetative growth, resulting in dwarf plants tending toward shoot meristem collapse. These alterations in vegetative growth of transgenic lines associate with impaired hormone homeostasis due to the modulation of genes involved in jasmonic acid, cytokinin, abscisic acid, and gibberellin pathways, and the downregulation of shoot meristem factors, specifically in transgenic leaf and apical tissues. The expression of many of these genes is also modified in flower buds of peach concomitantly with PpeDAM6 downregulation, which suggests a role of hormone homeostasis mechanisms in PpeDAM6-dependent maintenance of floral bud dormancy and growth repression."
Authors: Sen Li, Qingjie Wang, Binbin Wen, Rui Zhang, Xiuli Jing, Wei Xiao, Xiude Chen, Qiuping Tan and Ling Li.
Frontiers in Plant Science (2021)
Abstract: "Gibberellin (GA) plays a key role in the release of bud dormancy and the GA receptor GID1 (GIBBERELLIN INSENSITIVE DWARF1) and DELLA protein are the GA signaling parts, but the molecular mechanism of GA-GID1-DELLA module regulating leaf bud dormancy in peach (Prunus persica) is still not very clear. In this study, we isolated and characterized the GID1 gene PpGID1c from the peach cultivar “Zhong you No.4.” Overexpressing PpGID1c in Arabidopsis promoted seed germination, which indicated that PpGID1c has an important function in dormancy. The expression level of PpGID1c in peach leaf buds during endodormancy release was higher than that during ecodormancy and was positively correlated with GA4 levels. Our study also found that GA4 had the most obvious effect on promoting the bud break, indicating that GA4 may be the key gibberellin to promoting peach leaf bud endodormancy release. Moreover, a quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) found that GA4 could increase the expression of the gibberellin signaling gene PpDELLA2. A yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) assay suggested that the PpGID1c interaction with the PpDELLA1 protein was not dependent on gibberellin, while the PpGID1c interaction with PpDELLA2 required GA4 or another gibberellin. These findings suggested that the GA4-GID1c-DELLA2 module regulates peach leaf bud endodormancy release, with this finding significantly enhancing our comprehensive understanding of bud endodormancy release and revealing a new mechanism for regulating leaf bud endodormancy release in peach."
Authors: Jia Feng, Laichao Cheng, Zhenying Zhu, Feiqi Yu, Cheng Dai, Zhongchi Liu, Wen-Wu Guo, Xiao-Meng Wu and Chunying Kang.
Plant Physiology (2021)
Abstract: "Axillary bud development is a major factor that impacts plant architecture. A runner is an elongated shoot that develops from axillary bud and is frequently used for clonal propagation of strawberry. However, the genetic control underlying runner production is largely unknown. Here, we identified and characterized loss of axillary meristems (lam), an ethyl methanesulfonate-induced mutant of the diploid woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) that lacked stamens in flowers and had reduced numbers of branch crowns and runners. The reduced branch crown and runner phenotypes were caused by a failure of axillary meristem initiation. The causative mutation of lam was located in FvH4_3g41310, which encodes a GRAS transcription factor, and was validated by a complementation test. lamCR mutants generated by CRISPR/Cas9 produced flowers without stamens and had fewer runners than the wild-type. LAM was broadly expressed in meristematic tissues. Gibberellic acid (GA) application induced runner outgrowth from the remaining buds in lam, but failed to do so at the empty axils of lam. In contrast, treatment with the GA biosynthesis inhibitor paclobutrazol converted the runners into branch crowns. Moreover, genetic studies indicated that lam is epistatic to suppressor of runnerless (srl), a mutant of FveRGA1 in the GA pathway, during runner formation. Our results demonstrate that LAM is required for stamen and runner formation and acts sequentially with GA from bud initiation to runner outgrowth, providing insights into the molecular regulation of these economically important organs in strawberry."
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