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A putative 2OG-Fe(II) oxygenase’s response to gibberellin deficiency is related to the internodal growth of columnar apples

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Abstract

Columnar apples are a labor saving and productive tree form that has long been of interest to apple breeders and producers. MdCo31, which encodes a putative 2OG-Fe(II) oxygenase, is a potential candidate gene involved in controlling the internode length of columnar growth of apple. In this study, a putative regulation in internode length was conducted by exogenous application of GA3 and paclobutrazol. The results showed that the MdCo31-GFP fusion protein was specifically localized in the cytoplasm. Heterologous over-expression of MdCo31 in tobacco produced stunted phenotypes with high chlorophyll content in leaves, and delayed the timing of seed germination and flowering. The over-expression tobacco plants were more sensitive to exogenous application of GA3 but insensitive to paclobutrazol, and their growth correlated to lower concentrations of endogenous GA1 and lower expression levels of the gibberellin-regulated family gene NtGASA6. The higher the MdCo31 expression levels were identified in more dwarf transformants with the shorter internodes. This research proposed that the decrease in endogenous GA1, resulting from high MdCo31 expression, induced dwarf phenotypes and shorted internodes, which indicated that MdCo31 is responded to gibberellins’ deficiency conferring the internodal growth of columnar apples.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 31672109) and the Construction of Beijing Science and Technology Innovation and Service Capacity in Top Subjects (CEFF-PXM2019_014207_000032). We thank Margaret Biswas and Lesley Benyon, PhD, from Liwen Bianji, Edanz Group China (www.liwenbianji.cn/ac), for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.

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  1. Department of Pomology, College of Horticulture, China Agricultural University, Yuanmingyuan West Road No. 2, Haidian District, Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Limin Wang, Boyang Yu, Yanan Zhao, Yongzhou Li, Jing Guo & YuanDi Zhu

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  1. Limin Wang
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  3. Yanan Zhao
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11738_2021_3243_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Figure S1 The alignment of genomic sequence of MdCo31 in columnar and non-columnar apple tree. ‘Wijcik’, ‘Polka’, ‘Bolero’, ‘Maypole’ and ‘Waltz’ were columnar apple cultivars; ‘McIntosh’, ‘Summerland McIntosh’, ‘Fuji’ and ‘Gala 3’ were the non-columnar cultivar (TIF 3298 KB)

11738_2021_3243_MOESM2_ESM.tif

Figure S2 The phenotypic characterization of 95-days old transgenic tobaccos and wild type (scale bar:10cm) (TIF 1214 KB)

11738_2021_3243_MOESM3_ESM.tif

Figure S3 The growth status of 54 days old transgenic tobaccos and wild type plants after spraying GA3 and paclobutrazol. a, T1 transgenic tobaccos and wild types with 54-days-old were treated by 1mM GA3 and paclobutrazol, and their height analysis (d). b, GA3 +/− treated MdCo31-OE plants and wild types with 54-days-old were treated by 1mM paclobutrazol, and their height analysis (e). c, wild type were treated by 1mM GA3 and paclobutrazol, and their height analysis (f), a-c,scale bar:10cm, (*, P≤0.05, **, P≤0.01 and ***, P≤0.001) (TIF 703 KB)

11738_2021_3243_MOESM4_ESM.tif

Figure S4 T1 transgenic tobaccos and wild type were continually and disconnectedly sprayed by 1mM GA3, and their height analysis, scale bar 10cm (*, P≤0.05, **, P≤0.01 and ***, P≤0.001) (TIF 660 KB)

11738_2021_3243_MOESM5_ESM.tif

Figure S5 MdCo31 protein structure analysis. a, the transmembrane protein structure prediction; b The nuclear localization signal prediction s(TIF 682 KB)

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Wang, L., Yu, B., Zhao, Y. et al. A putative 2OG-Fe(II) oxygenase’s response to gibberellin deficiency is related to the internodal growth of columnar apples. Acta Physiol Plant 43, 70 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-021-03243-z

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