AUTHOR=Li Hui , Qi Mingfang , Sun Meihua , Liu Ying , Liu Yudong , Xu Tao , Li Yanbing , Li Tianlai 

TITLE=Tomato Transcription Factor SlWUS Plays an Important Role in Tomato Flower and Locule Development

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2017.00457

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2017.00457

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Tomato is a model species for fleshy fruit development. The shapes and sizes of tomato (<italic>Solanum lycopersicum L.</italic>) are mainly controlled by several loci, including locule number (<italic>lc</italic>). Two single nucleotide polymorphisms were found downstream of <italic>WUSCHEL</italic> (<italic>SlWUS</italic>) in a putative tomato CArG <italic>cis</italic>-regulatory element. The <italic>lc</italic> mutation may affect the binding of <italic>AGAMOUS</italic>(<italic>AG</italic>), cause the up-regulation of <italic>SlWUS</italic> and result in increased locule numbers. In this study, tissue expression levels showed that <italic>SlWUS</italic> is expressed in young floral buds and shoot apexes. Silencing <italic>SlWUS</italic> on an <italic>lc</italic> mutant genetic background with an RNA interference (RNAi) strategy resulted in smaller flowers and fruit than those of the wild-type plants, with decreased locule number. Further study revealed that the <italic>SlWUS</italic> RNAi lines exhibited altered expression levels of the <italic>TAG1</italic> and <italic>SlCLV3</italic> genes that participate in the regulation of tomato flower and fruit locule development. In conclusion, this study provides the first genetic evidence that <italic>SlWUS</italic> may be the candidate gene of the <italic>lc</italic> locus and reveals the function of <italic>SlWUS</italic> in flower development.</p>