The S haplotype-specific F-box protein gene, SFB, is defective in self-compatible haplotypes of Prunus avium and P. mume

Plant J. 2004 Aug;39(4):573-86. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-313X.2004.02154.x.

Abstract

Many Prunus species, including sweet cherry and Japanese apricot, of the Rosaceae, display an S-RNase-based gametophytic self-incompatibility (GSI). The specificity of this outcrossing mechanism is determined by a minimum of two genes that are located in a multigene complex, termed the S locus, which controls the pistil and pollen specificities. SFB, a gene located in the S locus region, encodes an F-box protein that has appropriate S haplotype-specific variation to be the pollen determinant in the self-incompatibility reaction. This study characterizes SFBs of two self-compatible (SC) haplotypes, S(4') and S(f), of Prunus. S(4') of sweet cherry is a pollen-part mutant (PPM) that was produced by X-ray irradiation, while S(f) of Japanese apricot is a naturally occurring SC haplotype that is considered to be a PPM. DNA sequence analysis revealed defects in both SFB(4') and SFB(f). A 4 bp deletion upstream from the HVa coding region of SFB(4') causes a frame-shift that produces transcripts of a defective SFB lacking the two hypervariable regions, HVa and HVb. Similarly, the presence of a 6.8 kbp insertion in the middle of the SFB(f) coding region leads to transcripts for a defective SFB lacking the C-terminal half that contains HVa and HVb. As all reported SFBs of functional S haplotypes encode intact SFB, the fact that the partial loss-of-function mutations in SFB are present in SC mutant haplotypes of Prunus provides additional evidence that SFB is the pollen S gene in GSI in Prunus.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Base Sequence
  • F-Box Proteins / genetics*
  • Haplotypes*
  • Models, Biological
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phylogeny
  • Physical Chromosome Mapping
  • Plant Proteins / chemistry
  • Plant Proteins / genetics*
  • Pollen
  • Prunus / classification
  • Prunus / genetics*
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid

Substances

  • F-Box Proteins
  • Plant Proteins