Ficus carica ERF12 improves fruit firmness at ripening

作者：Yanlei Zhai, Yuanyuan Cui, Zhiyi Fan, Hantang Huang, Zhe Wang, Shangwu Chen, Huiqin Ma · 发表于：Horticultural Plant Journal · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1016/j.hpj.2024.03.002 · 被引用次数：6 · 研究领域：Phytochemistry and biological activities of Ficus species、Plant Physiology and Cultivation Studies、Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management

Fig fruit firmness decreases rapidly during ripening and after harvest, resulting in poor storability and transportation loss, which severely restricts development of the fresh fig industry. APETALA2/ethylene-responsive factor (AP2/ERF) transcription factors are downstream components of the ethylene-signaling pathway that play crucial roles in quality formation during fruit ripening. In this study, Ficus carica (Fc) ERF12 was clustered in repressor subfamily VIII of ERFs through phylogenetic analysis, and further recruited by its two EAR motifs and expression pattern during fig ripening. DNA affinity purification sequencing analysis indicated that FcERF12 binds to the promoter or gene body regions of multiple ripening-related genes, including cell wall-modification genes FcPG, FcXTH and FcPME, and ethylene-biosynthesis genes FcACS and FcACO. Yeast two-hybrid assay demonstrated that FcERF12 interacts with TOPLESS (TPL) co-repressors FcTPL1, FcTPL4 and FcTPL5, and histone deacetylases FcHDA6 and FcHDA19; interaction with FcTPL4 and FcTPL5 relied on the C-terminal EAR motif. Overexpressing FcERF12 in tomato did not change fruit size or yield, but resulted in an 18.37% increment in fruit firmness and a 49.62% reduction in ethylene-release rate at fruit ripening, accompanied by a significant decrease in seed number per fruit. Transcriptomic analysis revealed downregulation of tomato cell wall-modification genes SlPL, SlEXP and SlPG, and ethylene-synthesis genes SlACO and SlACS. Me...