A novel BSD domain-containing transcription factor controls vegetative growth, leaf senescence, and fruit quality in tomato

• Published in: Journal of experimental botany Vol. 71; no. 22; pp. 6945 - 6957
• Main Authors: Fan, Youhong, Niu, Xiangli, Huang, Li, Gross, Rachel, Lu, Han, Hawkins, Madigan, Yuan, Yulin, Miao, Min, Liu, Yongsheng, Xiao, Fangming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 31.12.2020
• Subjects: Fruit - genetics; Fruit - metabolism; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Lycopersicon esculentum - genetics; Lycopersicon esculentum - metabolism; Plant Leaves - genetics; Plant Leaves - metabolism; Plant Proteins - genetics; Plant Proteins - metabolism; Plants, Genetically Modified - metabolism; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription Factors - metabolism; transcription factor; SlBSD1; Solanum lycopersicum; tomato; Fruit quality; vegetative growth; leaf senescence
• ISSN: 0022-0957; 1460-2431
• DOI: 10.1093/jxb/eraa393

BSD (mammalian BTF2-like transcription factors, synapse-associated proteins, and DOS2-like proteins) is a conserved domain that exists in a variety of organisms, but its function has not been well studied. Here, we identified a novel BSD domain-containing protein (SlBSD1) in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Biochemical and microscopy assays indicated that SlBSD1 is a functional transcription factor that is predominantly localized in the nucleus. Loss-of-function and overexpression analyses suggested that SlBSD1 is a novel regulator of vegetative growth and leaf senescence in tomato. SlBSD1-knockdown (-KD) plants exhibited retarded vegetative growth and precocious leaf senescence, whereas SlBSD1-overexpression (-OX) plants displayed the opposite phenotypes. The negative role of SlBSD1 in leaf senescence was also supported by RNA-seq analysis comparing leaf tissues from SlBSD1-KD and wild-type plants. In addition, contents of soluble solids were altered in fruits in the SlBSD1-KD and SlBSD1-OX plants. Taken together, our data suggest that the novel transcription factor SlBSD1 plays important roles in controlling fruit quality and other physiological processes in tomato, including vegetative growth and leaf senescence.