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Regulation of gibberellin 20-oxidase gene expression and gibberellin content in citrus by temperature and citrus exocortis viroid

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Abstract

A cDNA clone coding for a gibberellin (GA) 20-oxidase (CcGA20ox1), an enzyme of GA biosynthesis, which when expressed in vitro catalyzed the conversion of GA12 to GA9 and of GA53 to GA20, was isolated from the citrus hybrid Carrizo citrange (Citrus sinensis × Poncirus trifoliata). Transcripts of CcGA20ox1 were abundant in the apex and leaves and much less abundant in internodes, nodes and roots. Seedlings of Carrizo citrange cultured under a 32 °C/27 °C (day/night) regime elongated more than seedlings growing under 17 °C/12 °C conditions. The effect of higher temperature was associated with more CcGA20ox1 transcripts and with higher content of GA1, the main active GA in citrus, in the shoot. The infection of Etrog citron (Citrus medica) plants with citrus exocortis viroid (CEVd), which produces a stunted phenotype, reduced the levels of transcripts in the apical shoot hybridizing to the gene CcGA20ox1 of Carrizo citrange and the content of GA1. Thus GA1 content correlated with CcGA20ox1 transcript levels. In contrast, results for gibberellic acid (GA3) and paclobutrazol applications to Carrizo citrange showed that CcGA20ox1 expression was subject to feed-back regulation. These observations indicate that the feed-back regulation of GA20ox operates mostly when the levels of active GAs have been dramatically altered. The results also show that the growth reduction induced by environmental (temperature) and biotic (CEVd) factors may be partially due to the modulation of the expression of GA20ox genes.

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Abbreviations

CEVd:

citrus exocortis viroid

GA:

gibberellin

GA3 :

gibberellic acid

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Nuria Durán for providing the inoculum of CEVd. The work was supported by the Plan Nacional de Investigación y Ciencia, Biotecnología (grants BIO97-0578-C03 and BIO2000-1436) and the Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (scholarship to A.M. Vidal).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia-CSIC, Avda de los Naranjos s/n, 46022, Valencia, Spain

    Ana M. Vidal & José L. García-Martínez

  2. Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias, 46113, Montcada, Valencia, Spain

    Ana M. Vidal, Waddi Ben-Cheikh & Manuel Talón

Authors
  1. Ana M. Vidal
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  2. Waddi Ben-Cheikh
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  3. Manuel Talón
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  4. José L. García-Martínez
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Correspondence to José L. García-Martínez.

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Vidal, A.M., Ben-Cheikh, W., Talón, M. et al. Regulation of gibberellin 20-oxidase gene expression and gibberellin content in citrus by temperature and citrus exocortis viroid. Planta 217, 442–448 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-003-0999-2

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