Paul A. Covey

A Pollen-Specific RALF from Tomato That Regulates Pollen Tube Elongation

Rapid Alkalinization Factors (RALFs) are plant peptides that rapidly increase the pH of plant suspension cell culture medium and inhibit root growth. A pollen-specific tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) RALF (SlPRALF) has been identified. The SlPRALF gene encodes a preproprotein that appears to be processed and released from the pollen tube as an active peptide. A synthetic SlPRALF peptide based on the putative active peptide did not affect pollen hydration or viability but inhibited the elongation of normal pollen tubes in an in vitro growth system. Inhibitory effects of SlPRALF were detectable at concentrations as low as 10 nm, and complete inhibition was observed at 1 μm peptide. At least 10-fold higher levels of alkSlPRALF, which lacks disulfide bonds, were required to see similar effects. A greater effect of peptide was observed in low-pH-buffered medium. Inhibition of pollen tube elongation was reversible if peptide was removed within 15 min of exposure. Addition of 100 nm SlPRALF to actively growing pollen tubes inhibited further elongation until tubes were 40 to 60 μm in length, after which pollen tubes became resistant to the peptide. The onset of resistance correlated with the timing of the exit of the male germ unit from the pollen grain into the tube. Thus, exogenous SlPRALF acts as a negative regulator of pollen tube elongation within a specific developmental window.

Selenium accumulation in flowers and its effects on pollination

• Selenium (Se) hyperaccumulation has a profound effect on plant-arthropod interactions. Here, we investigated floral Se distribution and speciation in flowers and the effects of floral Se on pollen quality and plant-pollinator interactions. • Floral Se distribution and speciation were compared in Stanleya pinnata, an Se hyperaccumulator, and Brassica juncea, a comparable nonhyperaccumulator. Pollen germination was measured from plants grown with varying concentrations of Se and floral visitation was compared between plants with high and low Se. • Stanleya pinnata preferentially allocated Se to flowers, as nontoxic methyl-selenocysteine (MeSeCys). Brassica juncea had higher Se concentrations in leaves than flowers, and a lower fraction of MeSeCys. For B. juncea, high floral Se concentration impaired pollen germination; in S. pinnata Se had no effect on pollen germination. Floral visitors collected from Se-rich S. pinnata contained up to 270 μg g(-1), concentrations toxic to many herbivores. Indeed, floral visitors showed no visitation preference between high- and low-Se plants. Honey from seleniferous areas contained 0.4-1 μg Se g(-1), concentrations that could provide human health benefits. • This study is the first to shed light on the possible evolutionary cost, through decreased pollen germination in B. juncea, of Se accumulation and has implications for the management of seleniferous areas.

Interspecific reproductive barriers in the tomato clade: opportunities to decipher mechanisms of reproductive isolation

The tomato clade within the genus Solanum has numerous advantages for mechanistic studies of reproductive isolation. Its thirteen closely related species, along with four closely allied Solanum species, provide a defined group with diverse mating systems that display complex interspecific reproductive barriers. Several kinds of pre- and postzygotic barriers have already been identified within this clade. Well-developed genetic maps, introgression lines, interspecific bridging lines, and the newly available draft genome sequence of the domesticated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) are valuable tools for the genetic analysis of interspecific reproductive barriers. The excellent chromosome morphology of these diploid species allows detailed cytological analysis of interspecific hybrids. Transgenic methodologies, well developed in the Solanaceae, allow the functional testing of candidate reproductive barrier genes as well as live imaging of pollen rejection events through the use of fluorescently tagged proteins. Proteomic and transcriptomics approaches are also providing new insights into the molecular nature of interspecific barriers. Recent progress toward understanding reproductive isolation mechanisms using these molecular and genetic tools is assessed in this review.

Enabling proteomic studies with RNA-Seq: The proteome of tomato pollen as a test case.

Effective proteome profiling is generally considered to depend heavily on the availability of a high‐quality DNA reference database. As such, proteomics has long been taxonomically restricted, with limited inroads being made into the proteomes of “non‐model” organisms. However, next generation sequencing (NGS), and particularly RNA‐Seq, now allows deep coverage detection of expressed genes at low cost, which in turn potentially facilitates the matching of peptide mass spectra with cognate gene sequence. To test this, we performed a quantitative analysis of the proteomes of pollen from domesticated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and two wild relatives that exhibit differences in mating systems and in interspecific reproductive barriers. Using a custom tomato RNA‐Seq database created through 454 pyrosequencing, more than 1200 proteins were identified, with subsets showing expression differences between genotypes or in the accumulation of the corresponding transcripts. Importantly, no major qualitative or quantitative differences were observed in the characterized proteomes when mass spectra were used to interrogate either a highly curated community database of tomato sequences generated through traditional sequencing technologies, or the RNA‐Seq database. We conclude that RNA‐Seq provides a cost‐effective and robust platform for protein identification and will be increasingly valuable to the field of proteomics.

Structural differences in chromosomes distinguish species in the tomato clade.

The tomato clade of Solanaceae is composed of 12 species that are all diploid with the same chromosome number and morphology. Species in the tomato clade are considered to have evolved primarily by genic changes rather than large-scale chromosomal rearrangements because pachytene chromosomes in F1 hybrids synapse normally along their lengths and linkage maps of intra- and inter-specific hybrids are co-linear. However, small inversions have been reported between tomato and some of its wild relatives. Therefore, we reevaluated 5 F1 hybrids using high-resolution, electron microscopic examination of pachytene chromosome (= synaptonemal complex) spreads to determine whether any minor structural changes had occurred among species in the tomato clade, which were not easily visible using light microscopic analysis of conventional chromosome squashes. Our study revealed a number of unexpected synaptic configurations such as mismatched kinetochores, inversion loops and reciprocal translocations. Most of these structural differences were in or close to heterochromatin that has comparatively few genes and little recombination, so they would be expected to have little effect on the evident colinearity of linkage maps, especially in euchromatin. However, these results demonstrate that substantial changes in chromosome structure have occurred among species within the tomato clade.

Developmental onset of reproductive barriers and associated proteome changes in stigma/styles of Solanum pennellii.

Although self-incompatibility (SI) in plants has been studied extensively, far less is known about interspecific reproductive barriers. One interspecific barrier, known as unilateral incongruity or incompatibility (UI), occurs when species display unidirectional compatibility in interspecific crosses. In the wild tomato species Solanum pennellii, both SI and self-compatible (SC) populations express UI when crossed with domesticated tomato, offering a useful model system to dissect the molecular mechanisms involved in reproductive barriers. In this study, the timing of reproductive barrier establishment during pistil development was determined in SI and SC accessions of S. pennellii using a semi-in vivo system to track pollen-tube growth in developing styles. Both SI and UI barriers were absent in styles 5 days prior to flower opening, but were established by 2 days before flower opening, with partial barriers detected during a transition period 3–4 days before flower opening. The developmental expression dynamics of known SI factors, S-RNases and HT proteins, was also examined. The accumulation of HT-A protein coincided temporally and spatially with UI barriers in developing pistils. Proteomic analysis of stigma/styles from key developmental stages showed a switch in protein profiles from cell-division-associated proteins in immature stigma/styles to a set of proteins in mature stigma/styles that included S-RNases, HT-A protein and proteins associated with cell-wall loosening and defense responses, which could be involved in pollen–pistil interactions. Other prominent proteins in mature stigma/styles were those involved in lipid metabolism, consistent with the accumulation of lipid-rich material during pistil maturation.

RALFs: Peptide regulators of plant growth

Peptide signaling regulates a variety of developmental processes and environmental responses in plants.1-6 For example, the peptide systemin induces the systemic defense response in tomato7 and defensins are small cysteine-rich proteins that are involved in the innate immune system of plants.8,9 The CLAVATA3 peptide regulates meristem size 10 and the SCR peptide is the pollen self-incompatibility recognition factor in the Brassicaceae 11, 12. LURE peptides produced by synergid cells attract pollen tubes to the embryo sac.9 RALFs are a recently discovered family of plant peptides that play a role in plant cell growth.

Testing the SI × SC rule: Pollen–pistil interactions in interspecific crosses between members of the tomato clade (Solanum section Lycopersicon, Solanaceae)

PREMISE OF THE STUDY Interspecific reproductive barriers (IRBs) act to ensure species integrity by preventing hybridization. Previous studies on interspecific crosses in the tomato clade have focused on the success of fruit and seed set. The SI × SC rule (SI species × SC species crosses are incompatible, but the reciprocal crosses are compatible) often applies to interspecific crosses. Because SI systems in the Solanaceae affect pollen tube growth, we focused on this process in a comprehensive study of interspecific crosses in the tomato clade to test whether the SI × SC rule was always followed. METHODS Pollen tube growth was assessed in reciprocal crosses between all 13 species of the tomato clade using fluorescence microscopy. KEY RESULTS In crosses between SC and SI species, pollen tube growth follows the SI × SC rule: interspecific pollen tube rejection occurs when SI species are pollinated by SC species, but in the reciprocal crosses (SC × SI), pollen tubes reach ovaries. However, pollen tube rejection occurred in some crosses between pairs of SC species, demonstrating that a fully functional SI system is not necessary for pollen tube rejection in interspecific crosses. Further, gradations in the strength of both pistil and pollen IRBs were revealed in interspecific crosses using SC populations of generally SI species. CONCLUSION The SI × SC rule explains many of the compatibility relations in the tomato clade, but exceptions occur with more recently evolved SC species and accessions, revealing differences in strength of both pistil and pollen IRBs.