Potato tuber formation is a secondary developmental programme by which cells in the subapical stolon region divide and radially expand to further differentiate into starch‐accumulating parenchyma. Although some details of the molecular pathway that signals tuberisation are known, important gaps in our knowledge persist. Here, the role of a member of the TERMINAL FLOWER 1/CENTRORADIALIS gene family (termed StCEN) in the negative control of tuberisation is demonstrated for what is thought to be the first time. It is shown that reduced expression of StCEN accelerates tuber formation whereas transgenic lines overexpressing this gene display delayed tuberisation and reduced tuber yield. Protein–protein interaction studies (yeast two‐hybrid and bimolecular fluorescence complementation) demonstrate that StCEN binds components of the recently described tuberigen activation complex. Using transient transactivation assays, we show that the StSP6A tuberisation signal is an activation target of the tuberigen activation complex, and that co‐expression of StCEN blocks activation of the StSP6A gene by StFD‐Like‐1. Transcriptomic analysis of transgenic lines misexpressing StCEN identifies early transcriptional events in tuber formation. These results demonstrate that StCEN suppresses tuberisation by directly antagonising the function of StSP6A in stolons, identifying StCEN as a breeding marker to improve tuber initiation and yield through the selection of genotypes with reduced StCEN expression.

中文翻译：

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TERMINAL FLOWER-1 / CENTRORADIALIS通过与结核菌素激活复合物的蛋白质相互作用抑制结节病。

马铃薯块茎的形成是一个次要的发育程序，通过该程序，根尖下骨区域中的细胞分裂并径向扩展，以进一步分化为积累淀粉的薄壁组织。尽管已知一些信号传导结节的分子途径的细节，但在我们的知识中仍存在重要的空白。在这里，首次证明了TERMINAL FLOWER 1 / CENTRORADIALIS基因家族成员（称为StCEN）在结节的阴性对照中的作用。结果表明StCEN的表达降低加速块茎形成，而过表达该基因的转基因品系显示延缓块茎形成和降低块茎产量。蛋白质间相互作用研究（酵母双杂交和双分子荧光互补）证明StCEN结合了最近描述的结核菌素激活复合物的成分。使用瞬时反式激活测定法，我们表明StSP6A结节信号是结核菌素激活复合物的激活目标，并且StCEN的共表达可阻止StFD6-1激活StSP6A基因。错表达StCEN的转基因品系的转录组学分析鉴定块茎形成中的早期转录事件。这些结果表明，StCEN通过直接拮抗StSP6A在茎中的功能来抑制结节病，将StCEN鉴定为通过选择具有降低的StCEN表达的基因型来改善块茎起始和产量的育种标记。