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Ectopic expression of the apple Md-miRNA156h gene regulates flower and fruit development in Arabidopsis

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Abstract

The microRNA miR156 is involved in the regulation of plant growth and development by specifically restricting the transcripts of target genes. In this study, the Md-miR156h gene and its target cDNA fragments, specifically, MdSPL2a-b, MdSPL4, MdSPL6a-g, MdSPL9a-b, MdSPL13a-e and MdSPL15, were isolated from the apple cultivar ‘Gala’. Phylogenetic analysis showed that 18 MdSPL genes were putative targets of miR156. Subsequently, the expression construct p35S:Md-miR156h was created and transformed into Arabidopsis plants. Expression analysis showed that Md-miR156h transcripts and mature miR156 accumulation increased, while its target transcripts AtSPL9 and AtSPL15 were downregulated in transgenic Arabidopsis plants. As a result, the transgenic plants exhibited an extended juvenile phase, increased numbers of leaves, short siliques and the partial abortion of seeds compared with the WT control plants. These results demonstrate that miR156 and its target SPL genes are involved in various developmental processes, especially flower development, and miR156 mediates a conserved post-transcriptional regulation pathway in the apple and Arabidopsis.

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Abbreviations

ARF:

Auxin response factor

SPL:

Squamosa promoter binding protein-like protein

MRE:

MiRNA-responsive element

LFY:

LEAFY

FUL:

FRUITFULL

AP1:

APETALA1

RT:

Reverse transcriptase

EST:

Expressed sequence tag

CaMV:

Cauliflower mosaic virus

WT:

Wild type

IPA1:

Ideal plant architecture 1

WFP:

WEALTHY FARMER′S PANICLE

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by NSFC (31171946), PCSIRT (IRT1155) and 948 Project from Ministry of Agriculture of China (2011-G21).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, National Research Center for Apple Engineering and Technology, College of Horticulture Science and Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai-An, Shandong, 271018, China

    Chao Sun, Qiang Zhao, Dan–Dan Liu, Chun-Xiang You & Yu-Jin Hao

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  1. Chao Sun
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  2. Qiang Zhao
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  3. Dan–Dan Liu
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Correspondence to Chun-Xiang You or Yu-Jin Hao.

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Chao Sun and Qiang Zhao have contributed equally to this work.

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Sun, C., Zhao, Q., Liu, D. et al. Ectopic expression of the apple Md-miRNA156h gene regulates flower and fruit development in Arabidopsis . Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult 112, 343–351 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-012-0241-7

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