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Comparative transcriptome analysis reveals the function of SlPRE2 in multiple phytohormones biosynthesis, signal transduction and stomatal development in tomato

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Abstract

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Transcriptomic, physiological, and qRT-PCR analysis revealed the potential mechanism by which SlPRE2 regulates plant growth and stomatal size via multiple phytohormone pathways in tomato.

Abstract

Paclobutrazol resistance proteins (PREs) are atypical members of the basic/helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor family that regulate plant morphology, cell size, pigment metabolism and abiotic stress in response to different phytohormones. However, little is known about the network regulatory mechanisms of PREs in plant growth and development in tomato. In this study, the function and mechanism of SlPRE2 in tomato plant growth and development were investigated. The quantitative RT-PCR results showed that the expression of SlPRE2 was regulated by multiple phytohormones and abiotic stresses. It showed light-repressed expression during the photoperiod. The RNA-seq results revealed that SlPRE2 regulated many genes involved in photosynthesis, chlorophyll metabolism, phytohormone metabolism and signaling, and carbohydrate metabolism, suggesting the role of SlPRE2 in gibberellin, brassinosteroid, auxin, cytokinin, abscisic acid and salicylic acid regulated plant development processes. Moreover, SlPRE2 overexpression plants showed widely opened stomata in young leaves, and four genes involved in stomatal development showed altered expression. Overall, the results demonstrated the mechanism by which SlPRE2 regulates phytohormone and stress responses and revealed the function of SlPRE2 in stomatal development in tomato. These findings provide useful clues for understanding the molecular mechanisms of SlPRE2-regulated plant growth and development in tomato.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

bHLH:

Basic/helix-loop-helix

TF:

Transcription factor

PREs:

Paclobutrazol resistances

PRE2OE:

SlPRE2 Overexpression lines

WT:

Wild-type

DEGs:

Differently expressed genes

GA3 :

Gibberellic acid

IAA:

Indoleacetic acid

MeJA:

Methyl jasmonate

ABA:

Abscisic acid

ACC:

1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid

BR:

Brassinosteroid

CK:

Cytokinin

GO:

Gene ontology

KEGG:

Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 32160711 and 31960605) and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (Grant No. 20202BABL215009).

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ZZ and ML conceived the study and designed the experiments. ZZ, ML, JL, ZL and DF performed the experiments. ZZ and HZ analyzed the data. ZZ, BC and AZ drafted the manuscript. All the authors participated in the revision of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zhiguo Zhu.

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Zhu, Z., Luo, M., Li, J. et al. Comparative transcriptome analysis reveals the function of SlPRE2 in multiple phytohormones biosynthesis, signal transduction and stomatal development in tomato. Plant Cell Rep 42, 921–937 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-023-03001-0

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