Abstract
Main conclusion
NOR-like1 regulates tomato fruit size by targeting SlARF9, SlGRAS2, SlFW3.2, and SlFW11.3 genes involved in cell division and cell expansion.
Abstract
Fruit size is an important agricultural character that determines the yield of crops. Here, we found that NAC transcription factor NOR-like1 regulated fruit size by regulating cell layer number and cell area in tomato. Over-expressing NOR-like1 gene in tomato reduced fruit weight and size, whereas the knock-out of NOR-like1 increased fruit weight and size. At the molecular level, NOR-like1 binds to the promoter of SlGRAS2, SlFW3.2, and SlFW11.3 to repress their transcription, while it also binds to the promoter of ARF9 to activate its transcription. Overall, these results expand the biological function of NOR-like1 and deepen our understanding of the transcriptional network that regulates tomato fruit size.
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Data availability
The authors confirm that all the experimental data are available and accessible via the main text and/or the supplemental data.
Abbreviations
- ARF:
-
AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR
- Br:
-
Breaker
- ChIP:
-
Chromatin immunoprecipitation
- CR:
-
NOR-like1 CRISPR mutant
- dpa:
-
Days post anthesis
- FW:
-
FRUIT WEIGHT
- GRAS:
-
GAI, RGA, SCR
- NAC:
-
NAM, ATAF1,2 and CUC2
- NACRS:
-
NAC recognition sequences
- NOR:
-
Non-ripening
- OE:
-
NOR-like1-Overexpressing
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This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32072277).
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Peng, Z., Li, H., Liu, G. et al. NAC transcription factor NOR-like1 regulates tomato fruit size. Planta 258, 9 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-023-04166-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-023-04166-4