Seiji Yamasaki

Characterization of ethylene effects on sex determination in cucumber plants

Sex differentiation in cucumber plants (Cucumis sativus L.) appears to be determined by the selective arrest of the stamen or pistil primordia. We investigated the influence of an ethylene-releasing agent (ethephon) or an inhibitor of ethylene biosynthesis (aminoethoxyvinyl glycine) on sex differentiation in different developmental stages of flower buds. These treatments influence sex determination only at the stamen primordia differentiation stage in both monoecious and gynoecious cucumbers. To clarify the relationships between the ethylene-producing tissues and the ethylene-perceiving tissues in inducing female flowers in the cucumber, we examined the localization of mRNA accumulation of both the ACC synthase gene (CS-ACS2) and the ethylene-receptor-related genes (CS-ETR1, CS-ETR2, and CS-ERS) in flower buds by in situ hybridization analysis. CS-ACS2 mRNA was detected in the pistil primordia of gynoecious cucumbers, whereas it was located in the tissues just below the pistil primordia and at the adaxial side of the petals in monoecious cucumbers. In flower buds of andromonoecious cucumbers, only CS-ETR1 mRNA was detected, and was located in the pistil primordia. The localization of the mRNAs of the three ethylene-receptor-related genes in the flower buds of monoecious and gynoecious cucumbers overlap but are not identical. We discuss the relationship between the mRNA accumulation patterns and sex expression in cucumber plants.

Differential accumulation of Aux/IAA mRNA during seedling development and gravity response in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)

The plant hormone auxin transcriptionally activates Aux/IAA genes. We have isolated three Aux/IAA cDNA from cucumber, two cDNAs (CS-IAA1 and CS-IAA2) containing the complete open reading frame (ORF), and one partial cDNA (CS-IAA3). Northern blotting analysis showed that Aux/IAA mRNAs were induced during the emergence of radicles from seed coats. After radicle emergence, their mRNAs accumulated in the basal part of the hypocotyl much more than in the apical part, and later in elongating region of hypocotyls. CS-IAA1 and CS-IAA3 mRNA significantly accumulated in response to auxin, although the increment of the former mRNA accumulation by auxin application was much greater than that of the latter. CS-IAA2 did not show an apparent change by auxin treatment in our experiment. In horizontally germinating seedlings, the transition zone between hypocotyl and root curves was due to downward gravitropic growth. On the other hand, vertically germinating seedlings of cucumber do not curve in the early stage of seedling development. The CS-IAA1 mRNA accumulation in horizontally germinating seedlings was more than that in vertically germinating ones during radicle emergence. Furthermore, asymmetric distribution of CS-IAA1 mRNA was detected in the transition zone in in situ hybridization analysis. These results suggest that the CS-IAA1 gene product may be involved in the gravity response during early development of seedlings.

Hormonal regulation of sex expression in plants.

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the hormonal regulation of sex expression in monoecious plants, with particular emphasis on maize ( Z. mays ) and cucumber ( C. sativus ). It also discusses the mutual and different aspects of the regulatory systems that control their sex expression and presents a genetic model of sex expression in maize and cucumber plants. In maize plants, gibberellins act to arrest the stamen primordia in the primary and secondary florets of the ears, and low levels of gibberellins do not cause the arrest of pistil primordia in the primary florets of the ears. In principle, gibberellins do not affect the development of pistil primordial as evidenced by the analysis of dwarf (d) mutants. On the contrary, in cucumber plants, ethylene acts on both the development of pistil primordia and the arrest of stamen primordia, which results in the induction of femaleness. Therefore, ethylene has opposing effects on the development of sexual organs, stamens, and pistils. With regard to the hormonal regulation of sex expression, it is interesting that both plant hormones, gibberellins and ethylene, cause the arrest of stamen primordial in maize and cucumber, respectively. This indicates that ethylene‐ and gibberellins‐signaling pathways mediate the arrest (by PCD) of stamen primordia in maize and cucumber.

Gravity-induced modification of auxin transport and distribution for peg formation in cucumber seedlings: possible roles for CS-AUX1 and CS-PIN1.

Cucurbit seedlings potentially develop a peg on each side of the transition zone between the hypocotyl and root. Seedlings grown in a horizontal position suppress the development of the peg on the upper side of the transition zone in response to gravity. It is suggested that this suppression occurs due to a reduction in auxin levels to below the threshold value. We show in this study that the free indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) content is low, while IAA conjugates are significantly more abundant in the upper side of the transition zone of gravistimulated seedlings, compared to the lower side. A transient increase in mRNA of the auxin-inducible gene, CS-IAA1, was observed in the excised transition zone. The result suggests that the transition zone is a source of auxin. Cucumber seedlings treated with auxin-transport inhibitors exhibited agravitropic growth and developed a peg on each side of the transition zone. Auxin-transport inhibitors additionally caused an increase in CS-IAA1 mRNA accumulation at the transition zone, indicating a rise in intracellular auxin concentrations due to a block of auxin efflux. To study the involvement of the auxin transport system in peg formation, we isolated the cDNAs of a putative auxin influx carrier, CS-AUX1, and putative efflux carrier, CS-PIN1, from cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) plants. Both genes (CS-AUX1 in particular) were auxin-inducible. Accumulation of CS-AUX1 and CS-PIN1 mRNAs was observed in vascular tissue, cortex and epidermis of the transition zone. A reduced level of CS-AUX1 mRNA was observed in the upper side of the gravistimulated transition zone, compared with the lower side. It is therefore possible that a balance in the activities of auxin influx and efflux carriers controls intracellular auxin concentration at the transition zone, which results in lateral placement of a peg in cucumber seedlings.

Overexpression of mitochondrial genes is caused by interactions between the nucleus of Brassica rapa and the cytoplasm of Diplotaxis muralis in the leaves of alloplasmic lines of B. rapa.

In Brassica species, alloplasmic lines displaying cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) are established by combining the nucleus from B. rapa with the cytoplasm from Diplotaxis muralis. The failure to observe restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns of mitochondrial genes (coxII, coxIII, atpA, atp6, atp9, cob, nad3, nad6, and nad9) between alloplasmic lines of B. rapa and D. muralis indicates that introgression of the B. rapa nucleus into the cytoplasm of D. muralis does not cause any alterations in the structure of the mitochondrial genome. To investigate how the nucleus influences the cytoplasm, we examined the expression of mitochondrial genes in the leaves of euplasmic and alloplasmic lines of B. rapa and D. muralis. We detected higher levels of mitochondrial gene mRNAs in alloplasmic lines of B. rapa than in D. muralis. Patterns of mitochondrial gene transcription also differed among the alloplasmic lines of B. rapa. Thus, expression of mitochondrial genes in alloplasmic lines of B. rapa differed in the leaves compared to D. muralis. Overexpression of mitochondrial genes may be the result of novel interactions between the nucleus and the mitochondria in alloplasmic lines of B. rapa. Further study is necessary to clarify how these phenomena are involved in CMS.