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The influence of ethylene perception on sex expression in melon (Cucumis melo L.) as assessed by expression of the mutant ethylene receptor, At-etr1-1, under the control of constitutive and floral targeted promoters

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Abstract

Sexual diversity expressed by Curcurbitaceae species is a primary example of developmental plasticity in plants. Ethylene, which promotes femaleness (carpel development), plays a key role in sex determination. We sought to determine the critical location for ethylene perception in developing floral primodia. The dominant negative Arabidopsis ethylene response mutant gene, etr1-1, was introduced into melon (Cucumis melo L.) plants under control of the constitutive cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter, or floral-targeted Apetela3 (AP3) and Crab’s Claw (CRC) promoters, which in Arabidopsis, promote expression in petal and stamen, and carpel and nectary primordia, respectively. Based on effects of exogenous ethylene, it was predicted that inhibition of ethylene perception by carpel primordia would inhibit carpel development. Constitutive expression of etr1-1 caused several phenotypes associated with ethylene insensitivity, verifying that etr1-1 inhibits ethylene perception in the heterologous melon system. Carpel-bearing bud production was essentially abolished in 35S::etr1-1 melons, providing direct demonstration of the requirement for ethylene perception for carpel development. CRC::etr1-1 plants, however, showed enhanced femaleness as manifested by earlier and increased number of carpel-bearing buds, and production of female (rather than bisexual) buds. Despite increased carpel-bearing bud formation, a greater proportion of the CRC::etr1-1 carpel-bearing buds aborted before anthesis. AP3::etr1-1 plants showed increased maleness by nearly exclusive staminate flower production, and poorly developed carpels in the rare bisexual flowers. These results indicate that ethylene perception by the stamen (or petal) primordia plays a critical role in promoting carpel development at the time of sex determination, while ethylene perception by the carpel is important for maturation of carpel-bearing flowers to anthesis.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Drs. Eric Schaller (Univ. Wisconsin), John Bowman (UC Riverside), and Vivian Irish (Yale Univ.), for providing the etr1-1 gene and CRC and AP3 promoters, respectively. We also thank Drs. Randy Beaudry and David Dilley for providing GC equipment for the ethylene, and Drs. Amy Iezzoni and Ning Jiang for helpful reviews of the manuscript. This project was in part supported by research grants IS-3139-99 and US-3735-05C from BARD, the United States, Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund and by a USDA-NNF fellowship to HAL.

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  1. Graduate Program in Plant Breeding and Genetics, Plant and Soil Sciences Building, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Holly A. Little, Ekaterina Papadopoulou, Sue A. Hammar & Rebecca Grumet

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  1. Holly A. Little
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  2. Ekaterina Papadopoulou
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  3. Sue A. Hammar
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  4. Rebecca Grumet
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Correspondence to Rebecca Grumet.

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Communicated by Andrew Stephenson.

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Little, H.A., Papadopoulou, E., Hammar, S.A. et al. The influence of ethylene perception on sex expression in melon (Cucumis melo L.) as assessed by expression of the mutant ethylene receptor, At-etr1-1, under the control of constitutive and floral targeted promoters. Sex Plant Reprod 20, 123–136 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00497-007-0049-5

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