Induced mutations in SlE8 and SlACO1 control tomato fruit maturation and shelf-life

Ethylene plays a key role in tomato fruit ripening and softening that determine fruit shelf-life. Excessive fruit ripening provokes postharvest deterioration which is one of the most important challenges for the fruit industry. In collaboration with the team of Filomena Carriero (Agrobios Research Center, Italy), the team of Amandine Cornille (Le Moulon, France), and the FLOCAD team (IPS2), we characterised ACC oxidase 1 (SlACO1) and SlE8 (a putative inhibitor of ethylene production), two related proteins with contrasting effect on ethylene production. Using genetic diversity, we did not succeed to find any natural mutations impairing the function of these proteins. Thus, we screened for induced mutations using the TILLING approach on the EPITRANS platform. We identified 13 mutants that were characterized for ethylene production and fruit shelf-life parameters. Overall, we identified two alleles of SlACO1 and SlE8 altering fruit shelf-life. This work was supported by the Plant Biology and Breeding Department of INRAE, l’Association Nationale de la Recherche et de la Technologie (ANRT), and the LabEx Saclay Plant Sciences (ANR-10-LABX-40-SPS).

 Article:

Brisou G, Piquerez SJM, Minoia S, Marcel F, Cornille A, Carriero F, Boualem A, Bendahmane A. (2021) Induced mutations in SlE8 and SlACO1 control tomato fruit maturation and shelf-life. J Exp Bot. Jul 14:erab330. Epub ahead of print

16/09/2021