Summary Although it has been reported previously that ethylene plays a critical role in sex determination in cucurbit species, how the andromonoecy that carries both the male and hermaphroditic flowers is determined i...Summary Although it has been reported previously that ethylene plays a critical role in sex determination in cucurbit species, how the andromonoecy that carries both the male and hermaphroditic flowers is determined in watermelon is still unknown. Here we showed that the watermelon gene 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate syn- thase 4 CCitACS4）, expressed specifically in carpel primor- dia, determines the andromonoecy in watermelon. Among four single nucleotide polymorphism （SNPs） and one lnDel identified in the coding region of CitACS4, the C364W mutation located in the conserved box 6 was co- segregated with andromonoecy. Enzymatic analyses showed that the C364W mutation caused a reduced activity in CitACS4. We believe that the reduced CitACS4 activity may hamper the programmed cell death in stamen primordia, leading to the formation of hermaphroditic flowers.展开更多
基金supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation (31361140355, 31401893, 31272184)National Key Development Plan Pilot Projects (Functional genomics research and application of wheat and other crops)+3 种基金Beijing Scholar Program and Beijing Excellent Talents Program (2014000021223TD03)Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission (6141001, 6144023, WRDMC01)Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2015BAD02B0202, 2014BAD01B08)Ministry of Agriculture of China (CARS-26)
文摘Summary Although it has been reported previously that ethylene plays a critical role in sex determination in cucurbit species, how the andromonoecy that carries both the male and hermaphroditic flowers is determined in watermelon is still unknown. Here we showed that the watermelon gene 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate syn- thase 4 CCitACS4）, expressed specifically in carpel primor- dia, determines the andromonoecy in watermelon. Among four single nucleotide polymorphism （SNPs） and one lnDel identified in the coding region of CitACS4, the C364W mutation located in the conserved box 6 was co- segregated with andromonoecy. Enzymatic analyses showed that the C364W mutation caused a reduced activity in CitACS4. We believe that the reduced CitACS4 activity may hamper the programmed cell death in stamen primordia, leading to the formation of hermaphroditic flowers.
