CELL CYCLE SEITCH 52 regulates tillering by interacting with LATERAL SUPPRESSOR in non-heading Chinese cabbage

Plant Sci. 2021 Aug:309:110934. doi: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2021.110934. Epub 2021 May 3.

Abstract

With the discovery of essential genes regulating tillering, such as MONOCULM 1 (MOC1) in rice and LATERAL SUPPRESSOR (LAS in Arabidopsis, LS in tomato), research on tillering mechanisms has made great progress; however, the study of tillering in non-heading Chinese cabbage (NHCC) is rare. Here, we report that BcLAS, as a member of the GRAS family, plays an important role in the tillering of NHCC during its vegetative growth. BcLAS was almost not expressed in other examed parts except leaf axils throughout life. When the expression of BcLAS was silenced utilizing virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) technology, we found that the tiller number of 'Maertou' decreased sharply. In 'Suzhouqing', overexpression of BcLAS significantly promoted tillering. BcCCS52, the orthologue to CELL CYCLE SEITCH 52 (CCS52), interacts with BcLAS. Downregulation of the expression of BcCCS52 promoted tillering of 'Suzhouqing'; therefore, we conclude that BcCCS52 plays a negative role in tillering regulation. Our findings reveal the tillering regulation mechanism of NHCCs at the vegetative stage and report an orthologue of CCS52 regulating tillering in NHCC.

Keywords: CELL CYCLE SEITCH 52; LATERAL SUPPRESSOR; Non-heading Chinese cabbage; Tiller; Virus-induced gene silencing.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Motifs
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / genetics
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / metabolism
  • Brassica rapa / genetics*
  • Brassica rapa / growth & development
  • Brassica rapa / physiology
  • Cell Cycle
  • Cell Cycle Proteins / genetics
  • Cell Cycle Proteins / metabolism*
  • Gene Expression
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant*
  • Gene Silencing
  • Phylogeny
  • Plant Leaves / genetics
  • Plant Leaves / growth & development
  • Plant Leaves / physiology
  • Plant Proteins / genetics
  • Plant Proteins / metabolism*
  • Protein Domains

Substances

  • Arabidopsis Proteins
  • Cell Cycle Proteins
  • LAS protein, Arabidopsis
  • Plant Proteins