Abstract
Gibberellins (GA) are a very important signal for fruit set and growth. Exogenous application of these hormones can replace pollination and promote parthenocarpic fruit growth in many species. We have previously shown strong variations between tomato cultivars in the pericarp cell pattern after fruit set, including the number of cell layers, cell size and level of endoreduplication. Here, the effect of GA addition on this pattern was compared to pollination throughout fruit growth in the cherry tomato cultivar WVa106. The effect of a range of GA levels was also investigated in four tomato cultivars, namely WVa106, Micro-Tom, Money Maker and Ailsa Craig, with a different cell pattern in the pericarp. The level of GA was found to be a limiting factor in cell size and ploidy in the tomato pericarp of all cultivars, with dramatic effects in WVa106, Money Maker and Ailsa Craig, and a much more attenuated response in Micro-Tom. GA treatment maintained a robust correlation between cell size and ploidy that was common to all cultivars, and thus at the species level. Radial cell elongation was strongly stimulated by GA treatment in two cultivars only, WVa106 and Ailsa Craig. It was moderately increased in Micro-Tom and Money Maker, indicating a possible uncoupling between cell expansion and elongation. GA also enabled the cell divisions that produce new cell layers in the pericarp of all cultivars, in a way that suggests a different pathway from that regulating cell expansion. Overall, these results clarify our knowledge of the action of GA on the tomato pericarp cell pattern, and beyond on fruit growth in angiosperms.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Isabelle Atienza for taking care of the plants and Nathalie Gonzalez for helpful discussion and comments on the manuscript. The microscopic work was done on the Plant Imaging unit of the Bordeaux Imaging Center, member of the national infrastructure France-BioImaging supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR-10-INBS-04).
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JPR conceived and supervised the study. JPR and CaC designed the research methodology. CaC, NF, and VR provided the biological resources. JPR and VR conducted the experiments. JPR analyzed the results. JPR, CaC, ChC, and NF wrote the manuscript.
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Renaudin, JP., Cheniclet, C., Rouyère, V. et al. The Cell Pattern of Tomato Fruit Pericarp is Quantitatively and Differentially Regulated by the Level of Gibberellin in Four Cultivars. J Plant Growth Regul 42, 5945–5958 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-023-10978-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-023-10978-1