Background: Polygalacturonases (PGs) belong to a large gene family in plants and are believed to be responsible for various cell separation processes. PG activities have been shown to be associated with a wide range of plant developmental programs such as seed germination, organ abscission, pod and anther dehiscence, pollen grain maturation, fruit softening and decay, xylem cell formation, and pollen tube growth, thus illustrating divergent roles for members of this gene family. A close look at phylogenetic relationships among Arabidopsis and rice PGs accompanied by analysis of expression data provides an opportunity to address key questions on the evolution and functions of duplicate genes. Results: We found that both tandem and whole-genome duplications contribute significantly to the expansion of this gene family but are associated with substantial gene losses. In addition, there are at least 21 PGs in the common ancestor of Arabidopsis and rice. We have also determined the relationships between Arabidopsis and rice PGs and their expression patterns in Arabidopsis to provide insights into the functional divergence between members of this gene family. By evaluating expression in five Arabidopsis tissues and during five stages of abscission, we found overlapping but distinct expression patterns for most of the different PGs. Conclusion: Expression data suggest specialized roles or subfunctionalization for each PG gene member. PGs derived from whole genome duplication tend to have more similar expression patterns than those derived from tandem duplications. Our findings suggest that PG duplicates underwent rapid expression divergence and that the mechanisms of duplication affect the divergence rate.

Senescence, the final stage in the development of an organ or whole plant, is a genetically programmed process controlled by developmental and environmental signals. Age-related signals underlie the onset of senescence in specific organs (leaf, flower, and fruit) as well as the whole plant (monocarpic senescence). Rudimentary to most senescence processes is the plant hormone ethylene, a small gaseous molecule critical to diverse processes throughout the life of the plant. The role of ethylene in senescence was discovered almost 100 years ago, but the molecular mechanisms by which ethylene regulates senescence have been deciphered more recently primarily through genetic and molecular studies in Arabidopsis. Jasmonic acid (JA), another plant hormone, is emerging as a key player in the control of senescence. The regulatory network of ethylene and JA involves the integration of transcription factors, microRNAs (miRNAs), and other hormones. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of ethylene’s role in senescence, and discuss the interplay of ethylene with JA in the regulation of senescence.

Abscission of floral organs from the main body of a plant is a dynamic process that is developmentally and environmentally regulated. In the past decade, genetic studies in Arabidopsis have identified key signaling components and revealed their interactions in the regulation of floral organ abscission. The phytohormones jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene play critical roles in flower development and floral organ abscission. These hormones regulate the timing of floral organ abscission both independently and inter-dependently. Although considerable progress has been made in understanding abscission signaling, there are still many unanswered questions. These include considering abscission in the context of reproductive development and interplay between hormones embedded in the developmental processes. This review summarizes recent advances in the identification of molecular components in Arabidopsis and discusses their relationship with reproductive development. The emerging roles of hormones in the re...

In a screen for delayed floral organ abscission in Arabidopsis, we have identified a novel mutant of CORONATINE INSENSITIVE 1 (COI1), the F-box protein that has been shown to be the jasmonic acid (JA) co-receptor. While JA has been shown to have an important role in senescence, root development, pollen dehiscence and defense responses, there has been little focus on its critical role in floral organ abscission. Abscission, or the detachment of organs from the main body of a plant, is an essential process during plant development and a unique type of cell separation regulated by endogenous and exogenous signals. Previous studies have indicated that auxin and ethylene are major plant hormones regulating abscission; and here we show that regulation of floral organ abscission is also controlled by jasmonic acid in Arabidopsis thaliana. Our characterization of coi1-1 and a novel allele (coi1-37) has also revealed an essential role in apical dominance and floral meristem arrest. In this study we provide genetic evidence indicating that delayed abscission 4 (dab4-1) is allelic to coi1-1 and that meristem arrest and apical dominance appear to be evolutionarily divergent functions for COI1 that are governed in an ecotype-dependent manner. Further characterizations of ethylene and JA responses of dab4-1/coi1-37 also provide new information suggesting separate pathways for ethylene and JA that control both floral organ abscission and hypocotyl growth in young seedlings. Our study opens the door revealing new roles for JA and its interaction with other hormones during plant development.

Precise and timely regulation of organ separation from the parent plant (abscission) is consequential to improvement of crop productivity as it influences both the timing of harvest and fruit quality. Abscission is tightly associated with plant fitness as unwanted organs (petals, sepals, filaments) are shed after fertilization while seeds, fruits, and leaves are cast off as means of reproductive success or in response to abiotic/biotic stresses. Floral organ abscission in Arabidopsis has been a useful model to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that underlie the separation processes, and multiple abscission signals associated with the activation and downstream pathways have been uncovered. Concomitantly, large-scale analyses of omics studies in diverse abscission systems of various plants have added valuable insights into the abscission process. The results suggest that there are common molecular events linked to the biosynthesis of a new extracellular matrix as well as cell wall disassembly. Comparative analysis between Arabidopsis and soybean abscission systems has revealed shared and yet disparate regulatory modules that affect the separation processes. In this review, we discuss our current understanding of the transcriptional regulation of abscission in several different plants that has improved on the previously proposed four-phased model of organ separation.

INFLORESCENCE DEFICIENT IN ABSCISSION (IDA) is a signaling peptide that regulates cell separation in Arabidopsis including floral organ abscission and lateral root emergence. IDA is highly conserved in dicotyledonous flowering plant genomes. IDA-like sequences were also found in the genomic sequences of root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne spp., which are globally deleterious pathogens of agriculturally important plants, but the role of these genes is unknown. Exogenous treatment of the Arabidopsis ida mutant with synthetic peptide identical to the M. incognita IDA-like 1 (MiIDL1) protein sequence minus its N-terminal signal peptide recovered both the abscission and root architecture defects. Constitutive expression of the full-length MiIDL1 open reading frame in the ida mutant substantially recovered the delayed floral organ abscission phenotype whereas transformants expressing a construct missing the MiIDL1 signal peptide retained the delayed abscission phenotype. Importantly, wild-type Arabidopsis plants harboring an MiIDL1-RNAi construct and infected with nematodes had approximately 40% fewer galls per root than control plants. Thus, the MiIDL1 gene produces a functional IDA mimic that appears to play a role in successful gall development on Arabidopsis roots.