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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Plant, Soil and Nutrition Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #334110
Title: Banana MaMADS transcription factors are necessary for fruit ripening and molecular tools to promote shelf-life and food security

Author
item ELITZUR, TOMER - Agricultural Research Organization Of Israel
item YAKIR, ESTHER - Agricultural Research Organization Of Israel
item FEI, ZHANGJUN - Boyce Thompson Institute
item VREBALOV, JULIA - Boyce Thompson Institute
item Giovannoni, James
item FREIDMAN, HAYA - Agricultural Research Organization Of Israel

Submitted to: Plant Physiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/3/2016
Publication Date: 5/8/2016
Citation: Elitzur, T., Yakir, E., Fei, Z., Vrebalov, J., Giovannoni, J.J., Freidman, H. 2016. Banana MaMADS transcription factors are necessary for fruit ripening and molecular tools to promote shelf-life and food security. Plant Physiology. 171:390-391.

Interpretive Summary: Fruits of plants in the genus Musa, including bananas and plantains, represent staple foods for millions of people, especially in developing countries, and are an important carbohydrate and nutrient source for billions more the world over. In developing (including many producing) countries, postharvest methodologies to extend shelf-life are minimal and losses are correspondingly high. Regulating ripening and extending banana shelf-life via genetic means will facilitate developing country food security in addition to saving money and energy in countries where high-input postharvest practices predominate. Here we demonstrate the function of two banana genes, MaMADS1/2 in regulating fruit ripening. The utility of such genes as tools for ripening control is especially relevant in important seedless crops such as the vegetatively propagated and widely consumed Cavendish banana, where breeding options for trait improvement are severely limited by their seedless nature.

Technical Abstract: Genetic solutions to postharvest crop loss can reduce cost and energy inputs while increasing food security, especially for banana (Musa acuminata), which is a significant component of worldwide food commerce. We have functionally characterized two banana E class (SEPALLATA3 [SEP3]) MADS box genes, MaMADS1 and MaMADS2, homologous to the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) RIN-MADS ripening gene. Transgenic banana plants repressing either gene (via antisense or RNA interference [RNAi]) were created and exhibited specific ripening delay and extended shelf-life phenotypes, including delayed color development and softening. The delay in fruit ripening is associated with a delay in climacteric respiration and reduced synthesis of the ripening hormone ethylene; in the most severe repressed lines, no ethylene was produced and ripening was most delayed. Unlike tomato rin mutants, banana fruits of all transgenic repression lines responded to exogenous ethylene by ripening normally, likely due to incomplete transgene repression and/or compensation by other MADS box genes. Our results show that, although MADS box ripening gene necessity is conserved across diverse taxa (monocots to dicots), unlike tomato, banana ripening requires at least two necessary members of the SEPALLATA MADS box gene group, and either can serve as a target for ripening control.