OsNAC2 Is Involved in Multiple Hormonal Pathways to Mediate Germination of Rice Seeds and Establishment of Seedling

The germination of seeds and establishment of seedling are the preconditions of plant growth and are antagonistically regulated by multiple phytohormones, e.g., ethylene, abscisic acid (ABA), and gibberellic acid (GA). However, the interactions between these phytohormones and their upstream transcriptional regulation during the seed and seedling growth in rice remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrated a rice NAC (NAM-ATAF-CUC) transcription factor, OsNAC2, the overexpression of which increases the ethylene sensitivity in rice roots during the seedling period. Further study proved that OsNAC2 directly activates the expressions of OsACO and OsACO3, enhancing ethylene synthesis, and then retards seedling establishment. Moreover, OsNAC2 delays the germination of seeds and coleoptile growth through the ABA pathway instead of the ethylene and GA pathway, by targeting the promoters of OsNCED3, OsZEP1, and OsABA8ox1. We also found that OsNAC2 regulates downstream targets in a time-dependent manner by binding to the promoter of OsKO2 in the seedling period but not in the germination stage. Our finding enriched the regulatory network of ethylene, ABA, and GA in the germination of rice seeds and seedling growth, and uncovered new insights into the difference of transcription factors in targeting their downstream components.

Involvement of Ethylene in Reversal of Salt Stress by Salicylic acid in Presence of Sulfur in Mustard (Brassica juncea L.)

The involvement of ethylene in reversal of salt stress inhibited photosynthetic activity and growth by salicylic acid (SA) together with sulfur (S) was studied in mustard (Brassica juncea L.) plants. Application of SA (0.5 mM) plus SO42- (2.0 mM) improved photosynthetic activity through markedly increased S-assimilation, antioxidant enzymes activity and optimized ethylene and glutathione (GSH) production for reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plants under 50 mM NaCl stress. As SA acts as an inhibitor of ethylene, and S-assimilation is associated with ethylene synthesis, we tried to figure out the interaction of ethylene in SA and SO42- mediated salt tolerance. The involvement of ethylene was studied by supplementing salt treated plants with 200 µL L-1 ethephon (an ethylene-releasing compound) or 100 µM norbornadiene (NBD, ethylene action inhibitor) to SA and SO42- treatments. The ethephon application to salt treated plants suppressed stress ethylene and optimized ethylene formation and increased ethylene sensitivity to enhance photosynthesis of plants by affecting antioxidative capacity of plants. Application of NBD to plants receiving SA plus SO42- in presence of salt showed inhibited photosynthetic characteristics, stomatal behavior and growth. These plants exhibited minimal capacity of S-assimilation and antioxidant enzymes activity and GSH content. This explained that ethylene was involved in the reversal of salt stress by SA plus SO42-. Thus, the study showed that ethylene intervenes the effect of SA in the presence of SO42- to upregulate the antioxidants that lead to increased S-assimilation, and imparted tolerance to salt in mustard plants.

Petal abscission in fragrant roses is associated with large scale differential regulation of the abscission zone transcriptome

Flowers of fragrant roses such as Rosa bourboniana are ethylene-sensitive and undergo rapid petal abscission while hybrid roses show reduced ethylene sensitivity and delayed abscission. To understand the molecular mechanism underlying these differences, a comparative transcriptome of petal abscission zones (AZ) of 0 h and 8 h ethylene-treated flowers from R. bourboniana was performed. Differential regulation of 3700 genes (1518 up, 2182 down) representing 8.5% of the AZ transcriptome was observed between 0 and 8 h ethylene-treated R. bourboniana petal AZ. Abscission was associated with large scale up-regulation of the ethylene pathway but prominent suppression of the JA, auxin and light-regulated pathways. Regulatory genes encoding kinases/phosphatases/F-box proteins and transcription factors formed the major group undergoing differential regulation besides genes for transporters, wall modification, defense and phenylpropanoid pathways. Further comparisons with ethylene-treated petals of R. bourboniana and 8 h ethylene-treated AZ (R. hybrida) identified a core set of 255 genes uniquely regulated by ethylene in R. bourboniana AZ. Almost 23% of these encoded regulatory proteins largely conserved with Arabidopsis AZ components. Most of these were up-regulated while an entire set of photosystem genes was prominently down-regulated. The studies provide important information on regulation of petal abscission in roses.

Sensitivity of ornamental pepper to ethylene

ABSTRACT The genus Capsicum has varying levels of sensitivity to ethylene. Variability knowledge allows planning post-production methodologies of potted pepper plants and can be used in breeding programs. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ethylene sensitivity of three ornamental pepper genotypes of the germplasm bank of Universidade Federal de Viçosa. Pepper plants were exposed to 10 μL L-1 ethylene during 48 hours. The flowers were highly sensitive to exogenous ethylene in all genotypes except Pimenta colorida which was moderately sensitive. Regarding leaf abscission, Pimenta colorida and Pimentão ornamental are classified as highly sensitive to ethylene application. Already the fruits responded with the early appearance of the typical coloration when ripe, except for Pimenta laranja. When fruits fell, the highest rates were observed for green fruits, followed by ripe green and ripe fruits.