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JXB Advance Access originally published online on May 31, 2008
Journal of Experimental Botany 2008 59(9):2299-2308; doi:10.1093/jxb/ern093
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© 2008 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This paper is available online free of all access charges (see http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/open_access.html for further details)

RESEARCH PAPER

A role of brassinosteroids in early fruit development in cucumber

Feng Qing Fu1, Wei Hua Mao1, Kai Shi1, Yan Hong Zhou1, Tadao Asami3,4 and Jing Quan Yu1,2,*

1Department of Horticulture, Huajiachi Campus, Zhejiang University, Kaixuan Road 268, Hangzhou, PR China 310029
2Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plants Growth, Development and Biotechnology, Agricultural Ministry of China, Kaixuan Road 268, Hangzhou, PR China 310029
3RIKEN, Discovery Research Institute, Wako, Saitama 3510198, Japan
4Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo Ku, Tokyo 1138657, Japan

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jqyu{at}zju.edu.cn

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are essential for many biological processes in plants, however, little is known about their roles in early fruit development. To address this, BR levels were manipulated through the application of exogenous BRs (24-epibrassinolide, EBR) or a BR biosynthesis inhibitor (brassinazole, Brz) and their effects on early fruit development, cell division, and expression of cyclin and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) genes were examined in two cucumber cultivars that differ in parthenocarpic capacity. The application of EBR induced parthenocarpic growth accompanied by active cell division in Jinchun No. 4, a cultivar without parthenocarpic capacity, whereas Brz treatment inhibited fruit set and, subsequently, fruit growth in Jinchun No. 2, a cultivar with natural parthenocarpic capacity, and this inhibitory effect could be rescued by the application of EBR. RT-PCR analysis showed both pollination and EBR induced expression of cell cycle-related genes (CycA, CycB, CycD3;1, CycD3;2, and CDKB) after anthesis. cDNA sequences for CsCycD3;1 and CsCycD3;2 were isolated through PCR amplification. Both CsCycD3;1 and CsCycD3;2 transcripts were up-regulated by EBR treatment and pollination but strongly repressed by Brz treatment. Meanwhile, BR6ox1 and SMT transcripts, two genes involved in BR synthesis, exhibited feedback regulation. These results strongly suggest that BRs play an important role during early fruit development in cucumber.

Key words: Brassinosteroids, cell division, Cucumis sativus, cyclin, flow cytometry, parthenocarpy

Received 16 November 2007; Revised 4 March 2008 Accepted 10 March 2008


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