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Expression analysis and genetic mapping of three SEPALLATA-like genes from peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch)

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Abstract

SEPALLATA (SEP) MADS box genes play essential and diverse roles in reproductive organ development. To investigate the SEP gene function in peach we isolated three SEP-like genes, PrpMADS2, PrpMADS5, and PrpMADS7, which belong to distinct SEP gene clades. They appeared as single copy genes in the peach genome and were found to preferentially express in flowers and fruits. Arabidopsis transformants expressing 35S: PrpMADS2 were indistinguishable from wild-type plants. Overexpression of PrpMADS5 led to earlier flowering. Through chimeric repressor silencing technology, PrpMADS5 was found to function in floral organ development. Expression of PrpMADS7 in Arabidopsis caused a dramatic attenuation of both juvenile and adult growth phases and, in severely affected plants, it led to flower formation immediately after the embryonic phase. Two microsatellite markers were developed for PrpMADS2 and PrpMADS5 and assigned to the genetic linkage groups 5 and 1, respectively. PrpMADS7, previously identified as PrpAGL2, and PrpMADS5 were identified as potential loci to modify the flowering time and floral organs in Prunus species. Moreover, our results showed the diversification of SEP genes in peach.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Professor Pere ArÚs of Departament de Genética Vegetal, Laboratori CSIC-IRTA de Genética Molecular Vegetal, Barcelona, Spain, for providing us the mapping materials, and Dr. X.-Y. Kong of Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, for her generous help in Southern blotting analysis. This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation (Grant No.30500395) and National “863” Project of China (Grant No.2006AA10Z130 and 2006AA100108-3-7).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Science, Capital Normal University, 100037, Beijing, China

    Yong Xu, Lin Zhang & Rong-Cai Ma

  2. Beijing Agro-Biotechnology Research Center, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Ban-Jing Rd., Hai-Dian District, Beijing, 100097, China

    Yong Xu, Lin Zhang, Hua Xie, Yan-Qiu Zhang & Rong-Cai Ma

  3. Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica/Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica (ITQB/IBET), Quinta do Marquês, 2784-505, Oeiras, Portugal

    M. Margarida Oliveira

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  1. Yong Xu
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Correspondence to Rong-Cai Ma.

Additional information

Communicated by A. Abbott

The gene sequences have been deposited in GenBank and will appear under the accession numbers BQ102369, EF440351, and EF440352.

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Xu, Y., Zhang, L., Xie, H. et al. Expression analysis and genetic mapping of three SEPALLATA-like genes from peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch). Tree Genetics & Genomes 4, 693–703 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-008-0143-3

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