Search Results (2)

Lilies are one of the most popular ornamental flowers in the world. However, the abundant pollen produced in their anthers causes significant inconvenience for producers and consumers. Pollen abortion induced by molecular breeding techniques is one of the effective ways to solve this problem. In this study, the LoTDF1 gene, which is involved in regulating lily anther development, was identified and cloned from lily anthers based on transcriptome data. The open reading frame of LoTDF1 is 936 bp and encodes a protein with 311 amino acids. Multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic tree analysis revealed that the LoTDF1 protein contained a conserved R2R3 domain, belonging to the MYB transcription factor family. Subcellular localization and transcriptional activation assays demonstrated that LoTDF1 localized to the nucleus and functioned as a transcription activator. The transcriptional activation domain was located within the last 195 amino acids (117–311a) of the C-terminus, and there may be more than one transcriptional activation domain in the region. The expression level of the LoTDF1 gene was highest during the pollen mother cell (PMC) stage of lily anther development (2 cm anther), followed by the tetrad stage (4 cm anther). In situ hybridization experiments further confirmed that LoTDF1 transcripts were predominantly localized in PMCs, tapetal cells, middle layer cells, dyads, and tetrads. The experiment data suggest that LoTDF1 plays a critical role in regulating early anther development in lily. LoTDF1 could be a promising candidate gene for molecular breeding strategies aimed at developing pollen-free lily cultivars to enhance commercial and consumer appeal. Full article

Light is an important environmental signal that governs plant growth, development, and metabolism. Constitutive photomorphogenic 1 (COP1) is a light signaling component that plays a vital role in plant light responses. We isolated the COP1 gene (LoCOP1) from the petals of Lilium ‘Siberia’ and investigated its function. The LoCOP1 protein was found to be the most similar to Apostasia shenzhenica COP1. LoCOP1 was found to be an important factor located in the nucleus and played a negative regulatory role in floral scent production and emission using the virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) approach. The yeast two-hybrid, β-galactosidase, and bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) assays revealed that LoCOP1 interacts with LoMYB1 and LoMYB3. Furthermore, light modified both the subcellular distribution of LoCOP1 and its interactions with LoMYB1 and MYB3 in onion cells. The findings highlighted an important regulatory mechanism in the light signaling system that governs scent emission in Lilium ‘Siberia’ by the ubiquitination and degradation of transcription factors via the proteasome pathway. Full article