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Ectopic expression of a Chinese cabbage BrARGOS gene in Arabidopsis increases organ size

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Abstract

Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis) is a common and economically important crop in Asia. Specific targets of plant breeding programs for cabbage have been improvement in yield, resistance to environment stresses, and nutrition quality by means of genetic manipulation. To obtain information on yield improvement applicable for the genetic engineering approach, we have attempted to dissect the molecular pathways that regulate organ size. We first isolated a putative homolog of ARGOS full-length cDNA from Chinese cabbage leaves, which we designated BrARGOS. At the transcription level, BrARGOS was detected in all organs tested in Chinese cabbage. To test the function of this gene, we then engineered Arabidopsis plants that would overexpress BrARGOS ectopically. The organs of the transgenic Arabidopsis plants were significantly larger than those of the control plants. This increase in size was due to enhanced cell proliferation, with no contribution from cell expansion. The molecular analysis revealed that overexpression of BrARGOS up-regulated the transcription of several genes involved in the control of organ size. These results suggest that the BrARGOS gene may function as one of the regulators of organ size in Chinese cabbage. As such, manipulation of the BrARGOS gene may significantly increase the size of Chinese cabbage organs, such as Chinese cabbage heads.

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Abbreviations

ahk2 :

Arabidopsis histidine kinase2

ahk3 :

Arabidopsis histidine kinase3

ahk4 :

Arabidopsis histidine kinase4

AN3/GIF1:

Angustifolias/grf-interacting factor1

ANT :

Aintegumenta

ARF2 :

Auxin response factor2

ARGOS :

Auxin-regulated gene involved in organ size

ARL :

ARGOS-like

AtANT :

Arabidopsis thaliana aintegumenta

AtEXP10 :

Arabidopsis thaliana expansin-10

AtGRF1 :

Arabidopsis thaliana growth regulating factor1

AtGRF5 :

Arabidopsis thaliana growth regulating factor5

BPE :

Bigpetal

REV/IFL1:

Revoluta/interfascicular fiberless1

RON2/LUG:

Rotunda2/leunig

ROT3 :

Rotundifolia3

rot4-1D:

Rotundifolia4-1D

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Acknowledgments

We thank Drs. Yujing Li at Emory University and Yongfeng Guo at University of Michigan for critical reading of the manuscript. This research was supported by the Special Prophase Project on the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Project, grant no. 2009CB12600) and the High-tech Independent Innovation Foundation (grant no. 2007YCX003) of Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China.

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  1. Shandong Key Laboratory of Greenhouse Vegetable Biology, Institute of Vegetables, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 250100, Jinan, Shandong, China

    Bao Wang, Xincheng Zhou, Feng Xu & Jianwei Gao

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  1. Bao Wang
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  2. Xincheng Zhou
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  3. Feng Xu
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Correspondence to Jianwei Gao.

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Wang, B., Zhou, X., Xu, F. et al. Ectopic expression of a Chinese cabbage BrARGOS gene in Arabidopsis increases organ size. Transgenic Res 19, 461–472 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11248-009-9324-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11248-009-9324-6

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