JXB Advance Access originally published online on July 16, 2003
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Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol. 54, No. 390, pp. 2025-2033,
September 1, 2003
© 2003 Oxford University Press
Antisense suppression of a ß-galactosidase gene (TB G6) in tomato increases fruit cracking
Received 30 December 2002; Accepted 15 May 2003
Produce Quality and Safety Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Building 002, Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Area Research Center, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, Beltsville, MD 20705-2350, USA
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Fax: +1 301 504 5107. E-mail: grossk{at}ba.ars.usda.gov
Abbreviations: Br+3, Breaker stage plus 3 d; dap, days after pollination; MG, mature green stage; TBG, tomato ß-galactosidase.
Antisense suppression of a tomato ß-galactosidase gene (TBG6) was used to study its role in fruit development, cell wall-modification, and fruit firmness. TBG6 mRNA is highly abundant during the early stages of fruit development, but the levels decline sharply after the breaker stage with the start of the respiratory climacteric and a concomitant increase in ethylene production. Two antisense lines were obtained with significantly reduced levels of TBG6 mRNA at all stages of fruit development. At 30 d after pollination (dap), TBG6 mRNA levels were reduced by up to 98% and 88% in lines 6-2 and 6-10, respectively. Morphological phenotypes observed in the antisense lines included increased fruit cracking, reduced locular space, and a doubling in the thickness of the fruit cuticle. Two biochemical changes in antisense lines, compared with wild-type lines, were a reduction of exo-galactanase activity at the breaker +3 d stage and a reduction in the cell wall galactosyl content at the 20 dap stage. In addition, transgenic lines exhibited a 35–39% reduction in fruit firmness at the 20 dap stage, but their texture was equivalent to the wild type at 30 dap and beyond. Although the exact function of the TBG6 product is still unknown, these results implicate an important role for this enzyme in early fruit growth and development in tomato.
Key words: Antisense suppression, fruit cracking, tomato.
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