Hiroki Ikeda

Role of Vacuolar H+-inorganic Pyrophosphatase in Tomato Fruit Development

cDNA corresponding to two type-I vacuolar H+-inorganic pyrophosphatases (V-PPases) (SlVP1, SlVP2) and one type-II V-PPase (SlVP3) was isolated from tomato fruit to investigate their role in fruit development. Southern analysis revealed that type-I V-PPase genes form a multigene family, whereas there is only one type-II V-PPase gene in the tomato genome. Although SlVP1 and SlVP2 were differentially expressed in leaves and mature fruit, the highest levels of both SlVP1 and SlVP2 mRNA were observed in fruit at 2–4 days after anthesis. The expression pattern of type-II SlVP3 was similar to that of SlVP2, and the highest levels of SlVP3 mRNA were also observed in fruit at 2–4 days after anthesis, thus suggesting that SlVP3 plays a role in early fruit development. Because SlVP1 and SlVP2 mRNA was more abundant than SlVP3 mRNA, expression of type-I V-PPases was analysed further. Type-I V-PPase mRNA was localized in ovules and their vicinities and in vascular tissue at an early stage of fruit development. Tomato RNAi lines in which the expression of type-I V-PPase genes was repressed using the fruit-specific promoter TPRP-F1 exhibited fruit growth retardation at an early stage of development. Although the major function of V-PPases in fruit has been believed to be the accumulation of materials such as sugars and organic acids in the vacuole during cell expansion and ripening, these results show that specific localization of V-PPase mRNA induced by pollination has a novel role in the cell division stage.

Characterization of an uncharacterized aldo-keto reductase gene from peach and its role in abiotic stress tolerance

The aldo-keto reductase (AKR) superfamily is a large enzyme group of NADP-dependent oxidoreductases with numerous roles in metabolism, but many members in this superfamily remain uncharacterized. Here, PpAKR1, which was cloned from the rosaceous peach tree (Prunus persica), was investigated as a member of the superfamily. While PpAKR1 had amino acids that are important in AKRs and which belonged to the AKR4 group, PpAKR1 did not seem to belong to any of the AKR4 subgroups. PpAKR1 mRNA abundance increased with abscisic acid, oxidative stress, and cold and salt stress treatments in peach. NADP-dependent polyol dehydrogenase activity was increased in Arabidopsis thaliana transformed with PpAKR1. Salt tolerance increased in Arabidopsis transformed with PpAKR1. PpAKR1, which was a previously uncharacterized member of the AKR superfamily, could be involved in the abiotic stress tolerance.

Dynamic Metabolic Regulation by a Chromosome Segment from a Wild Relative During Fruit Development in a Tomato Introgression Line, IL8-3

We performed comparative metabolome and transcriptome analyses throughout fruit development using the tomato cultivar M82 and its near-isogenic line IL8-3, with interesting and useful traits such as a high content of soluble solids. Marked differences between M82 and IL8-3 were found not only in ripe fruits but also at 20 days after flowering (DAF) in the hierarchical clustering analysis of the metabolome, whereas patterns were similar between the two genotypes at 10 and 30 DAF. Our metabolome analysis conclusively showed that 20 DAF is an important stage of fruit metabolism and that the Solanum pennellii introgressed region in IL8-3 plays a key role in metabolic changes at this stage. Carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism were found to be promoted in IL8-3 at 20 DAF and the ripening stage, respectively, whereas transcriptome analysis showed no marked differences between the two genotypes, indicating that dynamic metabolic regulation at 20 DAF and the ripening stage was controlled by relatively few genes. The transcript levels of the cell wall invertase (LIN6) and sucrose synthase (TOMSSF) genes in starch and sucrose metabolic pathway and that of the glutamate synthase (SlGOGAT) gene in the amino acid metabolic pathway in IL8-3 fruit were higher than those in M82, and SlGOGAT expression was enhanced under high-sugar conditions. The results suggest that the promotion of carbohydrate metabolism by LIN6 and TOMSSF in IL8-3 fruit at 20 DAF affects SlGOGAT expression and amino acid accumulation via higher sugar concentration at the late stage of fruit development.

Blossom-End Rot in Fruit Vegetables

Calcium (Ca) is an essential element for plant growth, as calcium deficiency causes various disorders in some types of horticultural crops. The most significant calcium deficiency disorder is blossom-end rot (BER) of fruit vegetables. In tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), one of the most important vegetables in the world, the incidence of BER often becomes a serious problem in agricultural production and results in financial losses. The typical external symptoms of BER in tomato are water-soaked tissues, necrosis, and discoloring of tissues in the distal portion of the fruit. BER develops in the necrotic region of the parenchymal tissue surrounding young seeds and the distal placenta in the internal tissue of the fruit. The symptoms and causes of BER have been extensively studied, and BER is assumed to be related to Ca deficiency of the fruit. Here, we reviewed symptoms and physiological mechanisms of BER that are related to Ca concentration in fruit tissue and focus on recent molecular genetic research on tomato BER.