【Pedosphere】Temporal and tissue-specific expression of tomato 14-3-3 gene family in response to phosphorus deficiency
Abstract
Plants adapt to phosphorus (P) deficiency through a complex of biological processes and many genes are involved.Tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L. ‘Hezuo906') plants were selected to grown hydroponically to study the temporal and spatial gene expression patterns of the 14-3-3 gene family and their roles in response to P deficiency in tomato plants. Using real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) we investigated the expression profiles in different tissues (root stem and leaf) at short-term and long-term P-deficient stress phases. Results revealed that i) four members of 14-3-3 gene family (TFT1 TFT4 TFT6 and TFT7) were involved in the adaptation of tomato plants to P deficiency ii) TFT7 responded quickly to P deficiency in the root while TFT6 responded slowly to P deficiency in the leaf iii) expression response of TFT4 to P-deficient stress was widely distributed in different tissues (root stem and leaf) while TFT8 only displayed stem-specific expression and iv) temporal and tissues-specific expression patterns to P deficiency suggested that isoform specificity existed in tomato 14-3-3 gene family. We propose that TFT7 (one member of ε-like group in tomato 14-3-3 family) is the early responsive gene and may play a role in the adaptation of tomato plants to short-term P deficiency while TFT6 (one member of non-ε group in tomato 14-3-3 family) is the later responsive gene and may play a role in the adaptation of tomato plants to long-term P deficiency.