TY - JOUR

T1 - Expression of putative aquaporin genes in sweet cherry is higher in flesh than skin and most are downregulated during development

AU - Chen, Yun Hao

AU - Khanal, Bishnu P.

AU - Linde, Marcus

AU - Debener, Thomas

AU - Alkio, Merianne

AU - Knoche, Moritz

N1 - Acknowledgements: We thank Miriam Declercq, Uwe Jonas, Florian Krause, Thorben Sprink, and Thiemo Sprink for their preliminary work on aquaporins in sweet cherry, Simon Sitzenstock and Friederike Schröder for technical assistance and Johannes D. Scharwies and Alexander Lang for helpful discussions and comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. We also thank Diro Terfe and Julia Schröter for their guidance in bioinformatics and molecular work and Traud Winkelmann, Annmarie-Deetja Rohr, and Stefan Weiß for...

PY - 2019/1/26

Y1 - 2019/1/26

N2 - Aquaporins (AQPs) function as gated membrane channels for water. They may have a role in water transport in sweet cherries (Prunus avium L.) where rain-induced cracking and the associated water uptake, severely limit production. The objectives were (1) to identify potential AQP genes in sweet cherry, (2) to establish their expression patterns during development and (3) to investigate their roles in the transmembrane movement of water at maturity. Based on an expression database of developing fruit and the recently published sweet cherry genome, 25 putative full length AQP genes were identified and 16 of them were expressed in the fruit. These 16 putative genes included seven PIPs, three TIPs, three NIPs and three SIPs. Most of them had six transmembrane domains and asparagine-proline-alanine motifs characteristic for AQPs. Expression differed among AQPs, tissues and developmental stages. The most highly expressed AQPs were PaPIP1;2, PaPIP1;4 and PaTIP1;1. Expression in the flesh generally exceeded that in the skin. Furthermore, expression decreased towards maturity. Incubating flesh discs in hypertonic sucrose solutions resulted in water efflux from the disc. HgCl2 (1 mM), AgNO3 (1 mM), H2O2 (100 mM) or Na acetate (100 mM) all decreased the rate of efflux, presumably through an inhibition of AQPs. Lower inhibitor concentrations had no significant effects. The results indicate: (1) that AQPs are expressed in sweet cherry fruits, (2) that expression is generally higher in the flesh than the skin and decreases towards maturity and (3) that AQPs are involved in water transport across plasma membranes.

AB - Aquaporins (AQPs) function as gated membrane channels for water. They may have a role in water transport in sweet cherries (Prunus avium L.) where rain-induced cracking and the associated water uptake, severely limit production. The objectives were (1) to identify potential AQP genes in sweet cherry, (2) to establish their expression patterns during development and (3) to investigate their roles in the transmembrane movement of water at maturity. Based on an expression database of developing fruit and the recently published sweet cherry genome, 25 putative full length AQP genes were identified and 16 of them were expressed in the fruit. These 16 putative genes included seven PIPs, three TIPs, three NIPs and three SIPs. Most of them had six transmembrane domains and asparagine-proline-alanine motifs characteristic for AQPs. Expression differed among AQPs, tissues and developmental stages. The most highly expressed AQPs were PaPIP1;2, PaPIP1;4 and PaTIP1;1. Expression in the flesh generally exceeded that in the skin. Furthermore, expression decreased towards maturity. Incubating flesh discs in hypertonic sucrose solutions resulted in water efflux from the disc. HgCl2 (1 mM), AgNO3 (1 mM), H2O2 (100 mM) or Na acetate (100 mM) all decreased the rate of efflux, presumably through an inhibition of AQPs. Lower inhibitor concentrations had no significant effects. The results indicate: (1) that AQPs are expressed in sweet cherry fruits, (2) that expression is generally higher in the flesh than the skin and decreases towards maturity and (3) that AQPs are involved in water transport across plasma membranes.

KW - Aquaporin

KW - Aquaporin inhibitor

KW - Cracking

KW - Prunus avium

KW - Water uptake

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85054157440&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.scienta.2018.09.065

DO - 10.1016/j.scienta.2018.09.065

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85054157440

VL - 244

SP - 304

EP - 314

JO - Scientia horticulturae

JF - Scientia horticulturae

SN - 0304-4238

ER -