J Integr Plant Biol. ›› 2016, Vol. 58 ›› Issue (9): 762-765.DOI: 10.1111/jipb.12466

• Letters to the Editor •     Next Articles

Mutation in the gene encoding 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase 4 (CitACS4) led to andromonoecy in watermelon

Gaojie Ji1,2†, Jie Zhang1†, Haiying Zhang1, Honghe Sun1, Guoyi Gong1, Jianting Shi1, Shouwei Tian1, Shaogui Guo1, Yi Ren1, Huolin Shen2, Junping Gao2 and Yong Xu1*   

  1. 1Beijing Vegetable Research Center, National Engineering Research Center for Vegetables, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences; Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops (North China), Ministry of Agriculture; Beijing Key Laboratory of Vegetable Germplasm Improvement, Beijing, China
    2Department of Vegetable Science, College of Horticulture, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
  • Received:2015-10-22 Accepted:2016-01-28 Published:2016-02-03
  • About author:These authors contributed equally to this work.
    *Correspondence: E-mail: xuyong@nercv.org

Abstract:

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 synthase 4 (CitACS4), expressed specifically in carpel primordia, determines the andromonoecy in watermelon. Among four single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) and one InDel 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.

Key words: 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase, Citrullus lanatus, sex determination

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