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Gibberellin and the plant growth retardant Paclobutrazol altered fruit shape and ripening in tomato

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Abstract

Fruit shape and ripening are major horticultural traits for many fruits and vegetable crops. Changes in fruit shape and ripening are often accomplished by altered cell division or cell expansion patterns. Gibberellic acids (GAs) are essential for tomato fruit development; however, the exact role and the underlying mechanism are still elusive. To elucidate the relationship between gibberellins and fruit shape and ripening in tomato, GA3 and gibberellin biosynthesis inhibitor paclobutrazol (PAC) were applied to tomato. Fruit shape index was increased when GA3 was applied, which was mainly attributed to the increased organ elongation. The expression levels of genes involved in cell elongation and expansion were altered at the same time. In addition, GA delayed the ripening time by regulating the transcript levels of ethylene-related genes. By contrast, PAC application decreased fruit shape index and shortened fruit ripening time. These results demonstrate that manipulation of GA levels can simultaneously influence tomato fruit shape and ripening. Further studies aimed to regulate fruit shape and ripening can be achieved by altering GA levels.

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Funding

The research was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20170460), Doctoral Scientific Research Foundation of Shaanxi Xueqian Normal University (2018DS03), Guizhou Science and Technology Program No.Qiankehe Zhicheng (2019)2257, and Scientifc Research Foundation for Doctor from Huaiyin Institute of Technology (Z301B16531).

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Author notes

  1. Shen Chen and Xiao-Jing Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Horticulture, College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China

    Shen Chen

  2. Department of Life Sciences, Shaanxi XueQian Normal University, Xi’an, 710100, China

    Shen Chen

  3. Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA

    Xiao-Jing Wang

  4. Institute of Horticulture, Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guiyang, 550006, China

    Guo-Fei Tan

  5. Crop Institute, Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, 730070, China

    Wen-Qi Zhou

  6. School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huaian, 223003, China

    Guang-Long Wang

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  1. Shen Chen
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  2. Xiao-Jing Wang
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Contributions

SC and GLW initiated and designed the research. SC, XJW, and GFT performed the experiments. SC, XJW, and WQZ analyzed the data. SC and GLW revised the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Guang-Long Wang.

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Supplementary material 1

Longitudinal sections of tomato fruits at different development stages after GA3 and PAC treatment. DAP indicates days after pollination; Scale bars = 2.5 mm. (JPG 2854 kb)

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Chen, S., Wang, XJ., Tan, GF. et al. Gibberellin and the plant growth retardant Paclobutrazol altered fruit shape and ripening in tomato. Protoplasma 257, 853–861 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-019-01471-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-019-01471-2

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