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Insights on the stem elongation of spur-type bud sport mutant of ‘Red Delicious’ apple

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Abstract

Main conclusion

The decreased capacity of auxin-, CTK-, and BR-mediated cell division and cell enlargement pathways, combined with the enhanced capacity of GA and ETH-, JA-, ABA-, SA-mediated stress-resistant pathways were presumed to be the crucial reasons for the formation of spur-type ‘Red Delicious’ mutants.

Abstract

Vallee Spur’, which exhibit short internodes and compact tree shape, is the fourth generation of the spur-type bud sport mutant of ‘Red Delicious’. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of these properties remains unclear. Here, comparative phenotypic, full-length transcriptome and phytohormone analyses were performed between ‘Red Delicious’ (NSP) and ‘Vallee Spur’ (SP). The new shoot internode length of NSP was ˃ 1.53-fold higher than that of the SP mutant. Cytological analysis showed that the stem cells of the SP mutant were smaller and more tightly arranged relative to the NSP. By Iso-Seq, a total of 1426 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected, including 808 upregulated and 618 downregulated genes in new shoot apex with 2 leaves of the SP mutant. Gene expressions involved in auxin, cytokinin (CTK), and brassinosteroid (BR) signal transduction were mostly downregulated in the SP mutant, whereas those involved in gibberellin (GA), ethylene (ETH), jasmonate (JA), ABA, and salicylic acid (SA) signal transduction were mostly upregulated. The overall thermogram analysis of hormone levels in the shoot apex carrying two leaves detected by LC–MS/MS absolute quantification showed that the levels of IAA-Asp, IAA, iP7G, OPDA, and 6-deoxyCS were significantly upregulated in the SP mutant, while the remaining 28 hormones were significantly downregulated. It is speculated that the decreased capacity of auxin, CTK, and BR-mediated cell division and cell enlargement pathways is crucial for the formation of the SP mutant. GA and stress-resistant pathways of ETH, JA, ABA, and SA also play vital roles in stem elongation. These results highlight the involvement of phytohormones in the formation of stem elongation occurring in ‘Red Delicious’ spur-type bud sport mutants and provide information for exploring its biological mechanism.

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Abbreviations

BRs:

Brassinosteroids

CTKs:

Cytokinins

DEGs:

Differentially expressed genes

DETs:

Differentially expressed transcripts

DMs:

Differential metabolites

ETH:

Ethylene

GAs:

Gibberellins

JA:

Jasmonate

KEGG:

Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes

SA:

Salicylic acid

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Gansu Agricultural University Public Recruitment Doctoral Research Project (GAU-KYQD-2020-28), Education science and technology innovation project of Gansu Province (GSSYLXM-02), Gansu Provincial Science and Technology Planning Project (21JR7RA845), 2021 Sheng Tongsheng Innovation Fund Special Project of Gansu Agricultural University (GSAU-STS-2021-28), and the Science and Technology Major Project of Gansu Province (22ZD6NA045).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Horticulture, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, 730070, China

    Wen-Fang Li, Zong-Huan Ma, Cun-Wu Zuo, Ming-Yu Chu, Juan Mao & Bai-Hong Chen

  2. College of Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Tianshui Normal University, Tianshui, 741000, China

    Zhi-Gang Guo

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  1. Wen-Fang Li
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Supplementary Information

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Supplementary file1 Table S1 Sequence of primers used for qRT-PCR analysis (DOC 40 KB)

425_2023_4086_MOESM2_ESM.xls

Supplementary file2 Dataset S1 The classification and concentration of plant hormones in shoot apex of NSP and SP. (XLS 66 KB)

425_2023_4086_MOESM3_ESM.xls

Supplementary file3 Dataset S2 Gene composition and mean CPM (counts per million) value of the plant hormone signal transduction (ko04075), alpha-linolenic acid metabolism (ko00592), and cysteine and methionine metabolism (ko00270) pathways. (XLS 74 KB)

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Li, WF., Ma, ZH., Guo, ZG. et al. Insights on the stem elongation of spur-type bud sport mutant of ‘Red Delicious’ apple. Planta 257, 48 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-023-04086-3

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