PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Silva, Willian B.
AU  - Vicente, Mateus H.
AU  - Robledo, Jessenia M.
AU  - Reartes, Diego S.
AU  - Ferrari, Renata C.
AU  - Bianchetti, Ricardo
AU  - Araújo, Wagner L.
AU  - Freschi, Luciano
AU  - Peres, Lázaro E. P.
AU  - Zsögön, Agustin
TI  - <em>SELF-PRUNING</em> affects auxin responses synergistically with the cyclophilin A DIAGEOTROPICA in tomato
AID  - 10.1101/271387
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 271387
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/02/26/271387.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/02/26/271387.full
AB  - Summary The antiflorigenic signal SELF-PRUNING, which controls growth habit, exerts its effects through auxin transport, signaling and metabolism in tomato.Abstract The SELF PRUNING (SP) gene is a key regulator of growth habit in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). It is an ortholog of TERMINAL FLOWER 1, a phosphatidyl-ethanolamine binding protein with anti-florigenic activity in Arabidopsis thaliana. A spontaneous loss-of-function sp mutation has been bred into a large number of industrial tomato cultivars, as it produces a suite of pleiotropic effects that are favorable for mechanical harvesting, including determinate growth habit, short plant stature and simultaneous fruit ripening. However, the physiological basis for these phenotypic differences has not been thoroughly explained. Here, we show that the sp mutation alters polar auxin transport as well as auxin responses such gravitropic curvature and elongation of excised hypocotyl segments. We further demonstrate that free auxin levels and auxin-regulated gene expression patterns are altered in sp, with epistatic effects of diageotropica, a mutation in a cyclophilin A protein-encoding gene. Our results indicate that SP impacts growth habit in tomato, at least in part, via changes in auxin transport and responsiveness. These findings hint at novel targets that could be manipulated in the control of growth habit and productivity.Author contributionsWBS, MHV and JMR generated the plant material and conducted experiments. WBS, MHV, JMR, DSR, LF, RCF and RB conducted experiments and prepared figures and/or tables. LF and WLA designed experiments, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools and reviewed drafts of the paper. AZ and LEPP conceived and designed the experiments, analyzed the data and wrote the paper.