Down-regulation of a single auxin efflux transport protein in tomato induces precocious fruit development.

ABSTRACT: The PIN-FORMED (PIN) auxin efflux transport protein family has been well characterized in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, where these proteins are crucial for auxin regulation of various aspects of plant development. Recent evidence indicates that PIN proteins may play a role in fruit set and early fruit development in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), but functional analyses of PIN-silenced plants failed to corroborate this hypothesis. Here it is demonstrated that silencing specifically the tomato SlPIN4 gene, which is predominantly expressed in tomato flower bud and young developing fruit, leads to parthenocarpic fruits due to precocious fruit development before fertilization. This phenotype was associated with only slight modifications of auxin homeostasis at early stages of flower b

SUBMITTER: Mounet F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3427993 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature