The Role of Cytokinins during the Development of Strawberry Flowers and Receptacles.

Cytokinins play a relevant role in flower and fruit development and plant yield. Strawberry fruits have a high commercial value, although what is known as the "fruit" is not a "true" botanical fruit because it develops from a non-reproductive organ (receptacle) on which the true botanical fruits (achenes) are found. Given cytokinins' roles in botanical fruits, it is important to understand their participation in the development of a non-botanical or accessory "fruit". Therefore, in this work, the role of cytokinin in strawberry flowers and fruits was investigated by identifying and exploring the expression of homologous genes for different families that participate in the pathway, through publicly available genomic and expression data analyses. Next, trans-zeatin content in developing flowers and receptacles was determined. A high concentration was observed in flower buds and at anthesis and decreased as the fruit approached maturity. Moreover, the spatio-temporal expression pattern of selected CKX genes was evaluated and detected in receptacles at pre-anthesis stages. The results point to an important role and effect of cytokinins in flower and receptacle development, which is valuable both from a biological point of view and to improve yield and the quality of this fruit.

Expression and Functional Analyses of the WIP Gene Family in Arabidopsis.

The WIP family of transcription factors comprises the A1d subgroup of C2H2 zinc finger proteins. This family has six members in Arabidopsis thaliana and most of the known functions have been described by analyzing single knockout mutants. However, it has been shown that WIP2 and its closest paralogs WIP4 and WIP5 have a redundant and essential function in root meristems. It is likely that these and other WIP genes perform more, still unknown, functions. To obtain hints about these other functions, the expression of the six WIP genes was explored. Moreover, phenotypic ana-lyses of overexpressors and wip mutants revealed functions in modulating organ and cell size, stomatal density, and vasculature development.

Effects of the Developmental Regulator BOLITA on the Plant Metabolome.

Transcription factors are important regulators of gene expression. They can orchestrate the activation or repression of hundreds or thousands of genes and control diverse processes in a coordinated way. This work explores the effect of a master regulator of plant development, BOLITA (BOL), in plant metabolism, with a special focus on specialized metabolism. For this, we used an Arabidopsis thaliana line in which the transcription factor activity can be induced. Fingerprinting metabolomic analyses of whole plantlets were performed at different times after induction. After 96 h, all induced replicas clustered as a single group, in contrast with all controls which did not cluster. Metabolomic analyses of shoot and root tissues enabled the putative identification of differentially accumulated metabolites in each tissue. Finally, the analysis of global gene expression in induced vs. non-induced root samples, together with enrichment analyses, allowed the identification of enriched metabolic pathways among the differentially expressed genes and accumulated metabolites after the induction. We concluded that the induction of BOL activity can modify the Arabidopsis metabolome. Future work should investigate whether its action is direct or indirect, and the implications of the metabolic changes for development regulation and bioprospection.

Elucidating the Distribution of Plant Metabolites from Native Tissues with Laser Desorption Low-Temperature Plasma Mass Spectrometry Imaging.

Secondary metabolites of plants have important biological functions, which often depend on their localization in tissues. Ideally, a fresh untreated material should be directly analyzed to obtain a realistic view of the true sample chemistry. Therefore, there is a large interest for ambient mass-spectrometry-based imaging (MSI) methods. Our aim was to simplify this technology and to find an optimal combination of desorption/ionization principles for a fast ambient MSI of macroscopic plant samples. We coupled a 405 nm continuous wave (CW) ultraviolet (UV) diode laser to a three-dimensionally (3D) printed low-temperature plasma (LTP) probe. By moving the sample with a RepRap-based sampling stage, we could perform imaging of samples up to 16 × 16 cm2. We demonstrate the system performance by mapping mescaline in a San Pedro cactus ( Echinopsis pachanoi) cross section, tropane alkaloids in jimsonweed ( Datura stramonium) fruits and seeds, and nicotine in tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum) seedlings. In all cases, the anatomical regions of enriched compound concentrations were correctly depicted. The modular design of the laser desorption (LD)-LTP MSI platform, which is mainly assembled from commercial and 3D-printed components, facilitates its adoption by other research groups. The use of the CW-UV laser for desorption enables fast imaging measurements. A complete tobacco seedling with an image size of 9.2 × 15.0 mm2 was analyzed at a pixel size of 100 × 100 µm2 (14 043 mass scans), in less than 2 h. Natural products can be measured directly from native tissues, which inspires a broad use of LD-LTP MSI in plant chemistry studies.

New roles of NO TRANSMITTING TRACT and SEEDSTICK during medial domain development in Arabidopsis fruits.

The gynoecium, the female reproductive part of the flower, is key for plant sexual reproduction. During its development, inner tissues such as the septum and the transmitting tract tissue, important for pollen germination and guidance, are formed. In Arabidopsis, several transcription factors are known to be involved in the development of these tissues. One of them is NO TRANSMITTING TRACT (NTT), essential for transmitting tract formation. We found that the NTT protein can interact with several gynoecium-related transcription factors, including several MADS-box proteins, such as SEEDSTICK (STK), known to specify ovule identity. Evidence suggests that NTT and STK control enzyme and transporter-encoding genes involved in cell wall polysaccharide and lipid distribution in gynoecial medial domain cells. The results indicate that the simultaneous loss of NTT and STK activity affects polysaccharide and lipid deposition and septum fusion, and delays entry of septum cells to their normal degradation program. Furthermore, we identified KAWAK, a direct target of NTT and STK, which is required for the correct formation of fruits in Arabidopsis These findings position NTT and STK as important factors in determining reproductive competence.

Non-destructive Plant Morphometric and Color Analyses Using an Optoelectronic 3D Color Microscope.

Gene function discovery in plants, as other plant science quests, is aided by tools that image, document, and measure plant phenotypes. Tools that acquire images of plant organs and tissues at the microscopic level have evolved from qualitative documentation tools, to advanced tools where software-assisted analysis of images extracts quantitative information that allows statistical analyses. They are useful to perform morphometric studies that describe plant physical characteristics and quantify phenotypes, aiding gene function discovery. In parallel, non-destructive, versatile, robust, and user friendly technologies have also been developed for surface topography analysis and quality control in the industrial manufacture sector, such as optoelectronic three-dimensional (3D) color microscopes. These microscopes combine optical lenses, electronic image sensors, motorized stages, graphics engines, and user friendly software to allow the visualization and inspection of objects of diverse sizes and shapes from different angles. This allow the integration of different automatically obtained images along the Z axis of an object, into a single image with a large depth-of-field, or a 3D model in color. In this work, we explored the performance of an optoelectronic microscope to study plant morphological phenotypes and plant surfaces in different model species. Furthermore, as a "proof-of-concept," we included the phenotypic characterization (morphometric analyses at the organ level, color, and cell size measurements) of Arabidopsis mutant leaves. We found that the microscope tested is a suitable, practical, and fast tool to routinely and precisely analyze different plant organs and tissues, producing both high-quality, sharp color images and morphometric and color data in real time. It is fully compatible with live plant tissues (no sample preparation is required) and does not require special conditions, high maintenance, nor complex training. Therefore, though barely reported in plant scientific studies, optoelectronic microscopes should emerge as convenient and useful tools for phenotypic characterization in plant sciences.

Conserved and novel responses to cytokinin treatments during flower and fruit development in Brassica napus and Arabidopsis thaliana.

Hormones are an important component in the regulatory networks guiding plant development. Cytokinins are involved in different physiological and developmental processes in plants. In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, cytokinin application during gynoecium development produces conspicuous phenotypes. On the other hand, Brassica napus, also known as canola, is a crop plant belonging to the Brassicaceae family, as A. thaliana. This makes B. napus a good candidate to study whether the cytokinin responses observed in A. thaliana are conserved in the same plant family. Here, we observed that cytokinin treatment in B. napus affects different traits of flower and fruit development. It increases ovule and seed number, affects stamen filament elongation and anther maturation, and causes a conspicuous overgrowth of tissue in petals and gynoecia. Furthermore, cytokinin recovers replum development in both wild type B. napus and in the A. thaliana rpl ntt double mutant, in which no replum is visible. These results indicate both conserved and novel responses to cytokinin in B. napus. Moreover, in this species, some cytokinin-induced phenotypes are inherited to the next, untreated generation, suggesting that cytokinins may trigger epigenetic modifications.

Cytokinins on the Move.

Cytokinins are important signals that participate in different plant processes, and are well known for their strong influence in plant development. With the years, knowledge has been built about their effects, chemical nature, metabolism, and signaling mechanisms. However, one aspect about cytokinins that has been lagging behind is cytokinin transport. Recent reports are providing more information about how cytokinins are transported and how their transport is connected to their effects in development. This review provides a general overview of what is known about cytokinin transport, with a focus on the latest reports.

Altered expression of the bZIP transcription factor DRINK ME affects growth and reproductive development in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Here we describe an uncharacterized gene that negatively influences Arabidopsis growth and reproductive development. DRINK ME (DKM; bZIP30) is a member of the bZIP transcription factor family, and is expressed in meristematic tissues such as the inflorescence meristem (IM), floral meristem (FM), and carpel margin meristem (CMM). Altered DKM expression affects meristematic tissues and reproductive organ development, including the gynoecium, which is the female reproductive structure and is determinant for fertility and sexual reproduction. A microarray analysis indicates that DKM overexpression affects the expression of cell cycle, cell wall, organ initiation, cell elongation, hormone homeostasis, and meristem activity genes. Furthermore, DKM can interact in yeast and in planta with proteins involved in shoot apical meristem maintenance such as WUSCHEL, KNAT1/BP, KNAT2 and JAIBA, and with proteins involved in medial tissue development in the gynoecium such as HECATE, BELL1 and NGATHA1. Taken together, our results highlight the relevance of DKM as a negative modulator of Arabidopsis growth and reproductive development.