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Analysis of members of the Silene latifolia Cys2/His2 zinc-finger transcription factor family during dioecious flower development and in a novel stamen-defective mutant ssf1

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Abstract

Sex determination in dioecious Silene latifolia Poir. is governed by the inheritance of heteromorphic sex chromosomes. In male plants the Y chromosome influences two aspects of male organogenesis, the continued differentiation of stamen primordia and male fertility, and one aspect of female organogenesis, the arrest of development of the pistil. S. latifolia is susceptible to infection by the parasitic smut fungus Ustilago violacea, which induces stamen development in genetically female plants. Here we describe the identification and characterisation of a novel male mutant, short stamen filaments 1 (ssf1), defective in stamen differentiation. Although several independent studies have identified genes expressed during sex-determination in S. latifolia, analyses suggest that none of these encode regulatory proteins involved in the control of sex determination. We therefore isolated six S. latifolia cDNAs encoding members of a family of transcriptional regulators, the ZPT-type Cys2/His2 zinc-finger proteins that had previously shown to be co-ordinately regulated during stamen development in Petunia × hybrida hort. Vilm.-Andr. We have analysed the genomic organisation of these genes in male and female plants and their expression dynamics in male and female plants, in smut-infected female plants and in the ssf1 mutant. Our studies reveal expression patterns during development of the androecium that suggest a possible role for SlZPT2-1 in filament elongation and SlZPT4-1 in aspects of male fertility during stamen differentiation.

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Abbreviations

EMS :

Ethyl methanesulfonate

PhZPT :

Petunia × hybrida zinc-finger protein of TFIIIA-type

RACE :

Rapid amplification of cDNA ends

SEM:

Scanning electron microscopy

SlZPT :

Silene latifolia zinc-finger protein of TFIIIA-type

ssf1 :

short stamen filaments 1

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Acknowledgements

We thank Hiroshi Takatsuji for providing the ZPT-specific zinc finger oligos used to isolate the Silene latifolia ZPT zinc-finger protein genes described in this work. We also thank the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council who supported T.F.J. as a PhD student and C.P.S. and J.L. as postdoctoral researchers

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Author notes

  1. Thomas H. Jenkins

    Present address: Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Copenhagen, Oster Farimagsgade 2A, 1353, Copenhagen, Denmark

  2. Charles P. Scutt

    Present address: Laboratoire RDP, ENS Lyon, 46 Allée d’Italie, 69364, Lyon Cedex 07, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Plant Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, The University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Thomas H. Jenkins, Jinhong Li, Charles P. Scutt & Philip M. Gilmartin

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  1. Thomas H. Jenkins
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  2. Jinhong Li
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Correspondence to Philip M. Gilmartin.

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Jenkins, T.H., Li, J., Scutt, C.P. et al. Analysis of members of the Silene latifolia Cys2/His2 zinc-finger transcription factor family during dioecious flower development and in a novel stamen-defective mutant ssf1. Planta 220, 559–571 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-004-1365-8

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