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Silencing of chaperonin 21, that was differentially expressed in inflorescence of seedless and seeded grapes, promoted seed abortion in tobacco and tomato fruits

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Abstract

Vitis vinifera L. cv. ‘Thompson Seedless’ presents a type of stenospermocarpy in grape where fertilization occurs but seeds abort and fail to develop. To unravel the molecular basis for stenospermocarpy in grapes, subtractive hybridization was carried out in order to isolate differentially regulated genes that participate in the seedlessness machinery. Two ‘Thompson’ lines, a seeded and a seedless, were screened during different flower developmental stages. One of the genes, that was differentially expressed between the seeded and seedless lines, was the chloroplast chaperonin 21 (ch-Cpn21). ch-Cpn21 is a 21-kDa co-chaperonin polypeptide formed by two GroES-like domains fused together in tandem. Silencing of ch-Cpn21 in Nicotiana benthamiana plants resulted in leaf stunting, chlorosis, as well as ovary necrogenesis leading to seed abortion. Moreover, organ-specific silencing of ch-Cpn21 only in Lycopersicum esculentum fruits resulted in the development of seedless tomatoes. These results suggest that ch-Cpn21 may play a role in seed abortion in stenospermocarpic grapes.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Azem Abdussalam (Tel Aviv University) for the spinach ch-Cpn21 antibodies, and Prof. Dinesh-Kumar (Yale University) for his permission to use the pTRV1 and pTRV2 vectors.

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Author notes

  1. Margarita Velcheva

    Present address: Alberta Research Council, Hwy 16A & 75 Street, PO Bag 4000, T9C 1T4, Vegreville, Alberta, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fruit Tree Sciences, Institute of Plant Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, P.O. Box 6, 50250, Bet-Dagan, Israel

    Uri Hanania, Margarita Velcheva, Etti Or, Moshe Flaishman, Nachman Sahar & Avihai Perl

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  1. Uri Hanania
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  2. Margarita Velcheva
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Correspondence to Avihai Perl.

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Hanania, U., Velcheva, M., Or, E. et al. Silencing of chaperonin 21, that was differentially expressed in inflorescence of seedless and seeded grapes, promoted seed abortion in tobacco and tomato fruits. Transgenic Res 16, 515–525 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11248-006-9044-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11248-006-9044-0

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