Abstract
The abnormal pistils widely occur in Japanese apricot (Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc) and seriously affect the fruit production. In this study, a CCoAOMT homologue, PmCCoAOMT, was cloned in Japanese apricot and the bioinformatics software analyzed the structural characteristics. The PmCCoAOMT protein was detected to be located in the cell cytoplasm by onion transient expression experiment. Analysis of the real-time PCR data showed that PmCCoAOMT gene expressed in the prophase development of pistil and the expression level in ‘Daqiandi’ was higher than ‘Longyan.’ The expression level in ‘Longyan’ was higher than ‘Daqiandi’ in the late period development of pistil, and the expression level of perfect flower (perfect pistil) was higher than imperfect flower (pistil deformity and no pistil). Compared with the control, the over-expression of PmCCoAOMT transgenic tobacco lines showed bigger flowers, darker petals. The lignin monomer composition in transgenic tobacco lines was also measured, and the results showed that transgenic tobacco lines had a higher S (Syringyl)/G (Guaiacyl) ratio (22.3 %) than control lines (11.8 %). Also, the perfect flower buds contained more S/G ratio (92.62 %) than imperfect flower buds (83.55 %) in ‘Daqiandi.’ Our results indicated that the PmCCoAOMT gene might have function in lignin accumulation, which contributed to pistil development in Japanese apricot.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Boerjan W, Ralph J, Baucher M (2003) Lignin biosynthesis. Annu Rev Plant Biol 54(1):519–546
Boudet AM, Kajita S, Grima-Pettenati J, Goffner D (2003) Lignins and lignocellulosics: a better control of synthesis for new and improved uses. Trends Plant Sci 8(12):576–581
Cai BH, Zhang JY, Gao ZH, Qu SC, Tong ZG, Mi L, Qiao YS, Zhang Z (2008) An improved method for isolation of total RNA from the leaves of Fragaria spp. Jiangsu Agric Sci 24(6):875–877 (in Chinese)
Campbell MM, Sederoff RR (1996) Variation in lignin content and composition (mechanisms of control and implications for the genetic improvement of plants). Plant Physiol 110(1):3–13
Chen F, Dixon RA (2007) Lignin modification improves fermentable sugar yields for biofuel production. Nat Biotechnol 25(7):759–761
Chu MY (1999) China fruit records-Mei. China Forestry, Beijing (in Chinese)
Gao ZH, Wang S, Zhang Z (2006) Comparative study on flower and fruit characteristics of 29 varieties in Japanese apricot (Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc.). Jiangsu Agric Sci 6:231–233 (in Chinese)
Guo D, Chen F, Inoue K, Blount JW, Dixon RA (2001) Downregulation of caffeic acid 3-O-methyltransferase and caffeoyl CoA 3-O-methyltransferase in transgenic alfalfa: impacts on lignin structure and implications for the biosynthesis of G and S lignin. Plant Cell 13(1):73–88
Hou JH, Gao ZH, Zhang Z, Chen SM, Ando T, Zhang JY, Wang XW (2011) Isolation and characterisation of an AGAMOUS homologue PmAG from the Japanese Apricot (Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc.). Plant Mol Biol Rep 29(2):473–480
Kawaoka A, Nanto K, Ishii K, Ebinuma H (2008) Reduction of lignin content by suppression of expression of the LIM domain transcription factor in Eucalyptus camaldulensis. Silvae Genet 55(6):269–277
Kersey R, Inoue K, Schubert KR, Dixon RA (1999) Immunolocalization of two lignin O-methyltransferases in stems of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). Protoplasma 209:46–57
Kopycki JG, Stubbs MT, Brandt W, Hagemann M, Porzel A, Schmidt J, Schliemann W, Zenk MH, Vogt T (2008) Functional and structural characterization of a cation-dependent O-methyltransferase from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain pcc 6803. J Biol Chem 283(30):20888–20896
Li X, Chen W, Zhao Y, Xiang Y, Jiang H, Zhu S, Cheng B (2013) Downregulation of caffeoyl-CoA O-methyltransferase (CCoAOMT) by RNA interference leads to reduced lignin production in maize straw. Genet Mol Biol 36(4):540–546
Marè C, Mazzucotelli E, Crosatti C, Francia E, Cattivelli L (2004) Hv-WRKY38: a new transcription factor involved in cold-and drought-response in barley. Plant Mol Biol 55(3):399–416
Martz F, Maury S, Pinçon G, Legrand M (1998) cDNA cloning, substrate specificity and expression study of tobacco caffeoyl-CoA 3-O-methyltransferase, a lignin biosynthetic enzyme. Plant Mol Biol 36(3):427–437
Meyermans H, Morreel K, Lapierre C, Pollet B, De Bruyn A, Busson R, Herdewijn P, Devreese B, Van Beeumen J, Marita J, Ralph J, Chen C, Burggraeve B, Van Montagu M, Messens E, Boerjan W (2000) Modifications in lignin and accumulation of phenolic glucosides in poplar xylem upon down-regulation of caffeoyl-coenzyme A O-methyltransferase, an enzyme involved in lignin biosynthesis. J Biol Chem 275(47):36899–36909
Pan H, Fang C, Zhou T, Wang Q, Chen J (2007) Accumulation of calycosin and its 7-O-beta-d-glucoside and related gene expression in seedlings of Astragalus membranaceus Bge. var. mongholicus (Bge.) Hsiao induced by low temperature stress. Plant Cell Rep 26(7):1111–1120
Raes J, Rohde A, Christensen JH, Van de Peer Y, Boerjan W (2003) Genome-wide characterization of the lignification toolbox in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol 133(3):1051–1071
Ran XZ (2009) The development of enzymology studies in the metabolism of lignin biosynthesis. Chin Agric Sci Bull 25(03):23–27 (in Chinese)
Shi T, Zhuang WB, Zhang Z, Sun HL, Wang LJ, Gao ZH (2012) Comparative proteomic analysis of pistil abortion in Japanese apricot (Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc). J Plant Physiol 169(13):1301–1310
Tong ZG, Gao ZH, Wang F, Zhou J, Zhang Z (2009) Selection of reliable reference genes for gene expression studies in peach using real-time PCR. BMC Mol Biol 10(1):71
Umezawa T (2010) The cinnamate/monolignol pathway. Phytochem Rev 9(1):1–17
Wagner A, Tobimatsu Y, Phillips L, Flint H, Torr K, Donaldson L, Pears L, Ralph J (2011) CCoAOMT suppression modifies lignin composition in Pinus radiata. Plant J 67(1):119–129
Wang HZ, Hu B, Chen GP, Shi NN, Zhao Y, Yin QC, Liu JJ (2008) Application of Arabidopsis AGAMOUS second intron for the engineered ablation of flower development in transgenic tobacco. Plant Cell Rep 27(2):251–259
Xia D, Wu X, Shi J, Yang Q, Zhang Y (2011) Phenolic compounds from the edible seeds extract of Chinese Mei (Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc) and their antimicrobial activity. LWT-Food Sci Technol 44(1):347–349
Ye ZH, Kneusel RE, Matern U, Varner JE (1994) An alternative methylation pathway in lignin biosynthesis in Zinnia. Plant Cell 6(10):1427–1439
Zhang G, Zhang YJ, Xu JT, Niu XP, Qi JM, Tao A, Zhang LW, Fang PP, Lin LH, Su JG (2014) The CCoAOMT1 gene from jute (Corchorus capsularis L.) is involved in lignin biosynthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana. Gene 546(2):398–402
Zhao H, Sheng Q, Lü S, Wang T, Song Y (2004) Characterization of three rice CCoAOMT genes. Chin Sci Bull 49(15):1602–1606 (in Chinese)
Zhong R, Morrison WH, Negrel J, Ye ZH (1998) Dual methylation pathways in lignin biosynthesis. Plant Cell 10(12):2033–2046
Zhong R, Morrison WH, Himmelsbach DS, Poole FL, Ye ZH (2000) Essential role of caffeoyl coenzyme A O-methyltransferase in lignin biosynthesis in woody poplar plants. Plant Physiol 124(2):563–578
Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge financial support for this research from the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20150679), Qinglan Project from Jiangsu Province, the Fundamental Funds for Central University (KYZ201208), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31500571).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by PK Nagar.
H. Sun and T. Shi contributed equally to the work.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sun, H., Shi, T., Song, J. et al. Pistil abortion in Japanese apricot (Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc.): isolation and functional analysis of PmCCoAOMT gene. Acta Physiol Plant 38, 114 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-016-2131-9
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-016-2131-9