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Manipulation of SlMXl for enhanced carotenoids accumulation and drought resistance in tomato

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  • Life & Medical Sciences
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Science Bulletin

Abstract

Plants are the ultimate source of nutrients in the human diet. To ensure adequate availability of high quality food for an increasing world population, traits including improved tolerance of stresses and nutrient levels need to be selected in crops, both individually and in combination. Here we report the identification of SlMX1 encoding a MIXTA-like MYB transcription factor in tomato that simultaneously modulates drought resistance and metabolic processes through regulating key structural and regulatory genes of the corresponding pathways. Over-expression of SlMX1 results in substantially increased drought tolerance and improved fruit quality, while knocking down SlMX1 resulted in the opposite phenotypes. Our study indicates an effective way with multiple beneficial traits by genetic engineering of a single regulatory gene and can be a novel approach to breeding crops.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (2011CB100601). The authors would like to thank Prof. Conghua Xie, Zhibiao Ye, and Dr. Taotao Wang for their technical support to the research; Dr. Mahmoud El-Habaaq for advice on statistics; and Dr. Changxian Yang, Dr. Zhidan Luo, Dr. Jinhua Li and Dr. Mohamed H. Amar, for helpful suggestions. The first author also extends his gratitude to the Ministry of Education, Egypt, and the China Scholarship Council for providing the opportunity to pursue studies in China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement and National Center of Plant Gene Research (Wuhan), Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Mohamed Ewas, Yanqiang Gao, Shouchuang Wang, Farhan Ali, Raheel Shahzad, Hizar Subthain & Jie Luo

  2. College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Xianqing Liu

  3. Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Biology, Ministry of Education, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Hongyan Zhang, Elsayed M. E. Nishawy & Khurram Ziaf

  4. John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Colney, Norwich, NR4 7UH, UK

    Cathie Martin

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  1. Mohamed Ewas
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  2. Yanqiang Gao
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  3. Shouchuang Wang
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  4. Xianqing Liu
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  5. Hongyan Zhang
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  6. Elsayed M. E. Nishawy
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  7. Farhan Ali
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  8. Raheel Shahzad
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  10. Hizar Subthain
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  11. Cathie Martin
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  12. Jie Luo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jie Luo.

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Conflict of interest

A patent for the use of SlMX1 has been applied to the State Intellectual Property Office of China (201310518979.7).

Additional information

SPECIAL TOPIC: Plant Second Metabolites for Human Health

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Ewas, M., Gao, Y., Wang, S. et al. Manipulation of SlMXl for enhanced carotenoids accumulation and drought resistance in tomato. Sci. Bull. 61, 1413–1418 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-016-1108-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-016-1108-9

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