Unravelling molecular responses to moderate dehydration in harvested fruit of sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck) using a fruit-specific ABA-deficient mutant

Water stress affects many agronomic traits that may be regulated by the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA). Within these traits, loss of fruit quality becomes important in many citrus cultivars that develop peel damage in response to dehydration. To study peel dehydration transcriptional responsiveness in harvested citrus fruit and the putative role of ABA in this process, this study performed a comparative large-scale transcriptional analysis of water-stressed fruits of the wild-type Navelate orange (Citrus sinesis L. Osbeck) and its spontaneous ABA-deficient mutant Pinalate, which is more prone to dehydration and to developing peel damage. Major changes in gene expression occurring in the wild-type line were impaired in the mutant fruit. Gene ontology analysis revealed the ability of Navelate fruits to induce the response to water deprivation and di-, tri-valent inorganic cation transport biological processes, as well as repression of the carbohydrate biosynthesis process in the mutant. Exogenous ABA triggered relevant transcriptional changes and repressed the protein ubiquitination process, although it could not fully rescue the physiological behaviour of the mutant. Overall, the results indicated that dehydration responsiveness requires ABA-dependent and-independent signals, and highlight that the ability of citrus fruits to trigger molecular responses against dehydration is an important factor in reducing their susceptibility to developing peel damage.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Romero, Paco, Rodrigo, María Jesús, Alférez, Fernando, Ballester Frutos, Ana Rosa, González-Candelas, Luis, Zacarías, Lorenzo, Lafuente, María Teresa
Other Authors: Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (España)
Format: artículo biblioteca
Published: Oxford University Press 2012
Subjects:Peel damage, Abiotic stress, Water stress, ABA-deficient mutant fruit, Microarray, Gene expression, Citrus, Abscisic acid (ABA),
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/127735
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100006280
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003359
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!