Excessive softening of fruits during the ripening process leads to deterioration. This is of significant global importance as softening-mediated deterioration leads to huge postharvest losses. N-glycan processing enzymes are reported to play an important role during climacteric fruit softening: however, to date these enzymes have not been characterized in non-climacteric fruit. Two ripening-specific N-glycan processing enzymes, α-mannosidase (α-Man) and β-D-N-acetylhexosaminidase (β-Hex), have been identified and targeted to enhance the shelf life in non-climacteric fruits such as capsicum (Capsicum annuum). The purification, cloning, and functional characterization of α-Man and β-Hex from capsicum, which belong to glycosyl hydrolase (GH) families 38 and 20, respectively, are described here. α-Man and β-Hex are cell wall glycoproteins that are able to cleave terminal α-mannose and β-D-N-acetylglucosamine residues of N-glycans, respectively. α-Man and β-Hex transcripts as well as enzyme activity increase with the ripening and/or softening of capsicum. The function of α-Man and β-Hex in capsicum softening is investigated through RNA interference (RNAi) in fruits. α-Man and β-Hex RNAi fruits were approximately two times firmer compared with the control and fruit deterioration was delayed by approximately 7 d. It is shown that silencing of α-Man and β-Hex enhances fruit shelf life due to the reduced degradation of N-glycoproteins which resulted in delayed softening. Altogether, the results provide evidence for the involvement of N-glycan processing in non-climacteric fruit softening. In conclusion, genetic engineering of N-glycan processing can be a common strategy in both climacteric and non-climacteric species to reduce the post-harvest crop losses.

α-Mannosidase (α-Man), a fruit ripening-specific N-glycan processing enzyme, is involved in ripening-associated fruit softening process. However, the regulation of fruit-ripening specific expression of α-Man is not well understood. We have identified and functionally characterized the promoter of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) α-Man to provide molecular insights into its transcriptional regulation during fruit ripening. Fruit ripening-specific activation of the α-Man promoter was revealed by analysing promoter driven expression of beta-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter in transgenic tomato. We found that RIPENING INHIBITOR (RIN), a MADS box family transcription factor acts as positive transcriptional regulator of α-Man during fruit ripening. RIN directly bound to the α-Man promoter sequence and promoter activation/α-Man expression was compromised in rin mutant fruit. Deletion analysis revealed that a promoter fragment (567 bp upstream of translational start site) that contained three CArG boxes (binding sites for RIN) was sufficient to drive GUS expression in fruits. In addition, α-Man expression was down-regulated in fruits of Nr mutant which is impaired in ethylene perception and promoter activation/α-Man expression was induced in wild type following treatment with a precursor of ethylene biosynthesis, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC). Although, α-Man expression was induced in rin mutant after ACC treatment, the transcript level was less as compared to ACC-treated wild type. Taken together, these results suggest RIN-mediated direct transcriptional regulation of α-Man during fruit ripening and ethylene may acts in RIN-dependent and -independent ways to regulate α-Man expression.

Monoterpenes, which are among the major components of plant essential oils, are known for their ecological roles as well for pharmaceutical properties. Geraniol, an acyclic monoterpene induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis/senescence in various cancer cells and plants; however, the genes involved in the process and the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well understood. In this study, we demonstrate that treatment of tomato plants with geraniol results in induction of senescence due to a substantial alteration in transcriptome. We have identified several geraniol-responsive protein encoding genes in tomato using suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) approach. These genes comprise of various components of signal transduction, cellular metabolism, reactive oxygen species (ROS), ethylene signalling, apoptosis and DNA damage response. Upregulation of NADPH oxidase and antioxidant genes, and increase in ROS level after geraniol treatment point towards the involvement of ROS in geraniol-mediated senescence. The delayed onset of seedling death and induced expression of geraniol-responsive genes in geraniol-treated ethylene receptor mutant (Nr) suggest that geraniol-mediated senescence involves both ethylene dependent and independent pathways. Moreover, expression analysis during tomato ripening revealed that geraniol-responsive genes are also associated with the natural organ senescence process.

Several ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters involved in the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis and nodulation have been identified. We describe three previously unreported ABC subfamily B transporters, named AMN1, AMN2, and AMN3 (ABCB for mycorrhization and nodulation), that are expressed early during infection by rhizobia and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. These ABCB transporters are strongly expressed in symbiotically infected tissues, including in root-hair cells with rhizobial infection threads and arbusculated cells. During nodulation, the expression of these genes is highly induced by rhizobia and purified Nod factors and is dependent on DMI3 but is not dependent on other known major regulators of infection, such as NIN, NSP1, or NSP2. During mycorrhization their expression is dependent on DMI3 and RAM1 but not on NSP1 and NSP2. Therefore, they may be commonly regulated through a distinct branch of the common symbiotic pathway. Mutants with exonic Tnt1-transposon insertions were isolated for all three genes. None of the single or double mutants showed any differences in colonization by either rhizobia or mycorrhizal fungi, but the triple amn1 amn2 amn3 mutant showed an increase in nodule number. Further studies are needed to identify potential substrates of these transporters and understand their roles in these beneficial symbioses.[ ] Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license .

Most legumes can engage in symbiosis with N-fixing bacteria called rhizobia. This symbiosis, called nodulation, evolved from the more widespread symbiosis that most land plants form with arbuscular mycorrhiza, which is reflected in a common requirement of certain genes for both these symbioses. One key nodulation gene, Nodule Inception (NIN), has been intensively studied. Mutants in NIN are unable to form nodules, which has made it difficult to identify downstream genes under the control of NIN. The analysis of data from our recent transcriptomics study revealed that some genes with an altered expression of nin during nodulation are upregulated in mycorrhizal roots. In addition, another study reported the decreased colonization of nin roots by arbuscular mycorrhiza. We therefore investigated a role for NIN in mycorrhiza formation. Our time course study, using two nin alleles with differing genetic backgrounds, suggests that that loss of NIN does not affect colonization of Medicago truncatula roots, either in the presence or absence of rhizobia. This, and recent phylogenetic analyses showing that the loss of NIN is correlated with loss of nodulation in the FaFaCuRo clade, but not with the ability to form mycorrhiza, argue against NIN being required for arbuscular mycorrhization in legumes.