ORCID Profile
0000-0001-8503-5971
Current Organisations
Hiroshima University
,
University of Tokyo
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Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 15-06-2022
Abstract: Fruits can be ided into dry and fleshy types. Dry fruits mature through senescence and fleshy fruits through ripening. Previous studies have indicated that partially common molecular networks could govern fruit maturation in these different fruit types. However, the nature of such networks remains obscure. CLASS-II KNOX genes were shown to regulate the senescence of the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) dry fruits, the siliques, but their roles in fleshy-fruit development are unknown. Here, we investigated the roles of the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) CLASS-II KNOX (TKN-II) genes in fleshy fruit ripening using knockout alleles of in idual genes and an artificial microRNA line (35S:amiR-TKN-II) simultaneously targeting all genes. 35S:amiR-TKN-II plants, as well as a subset of tkn-II single and double mutants, have smaller fruits. Strikingly, the 35S:amiR-TKN-II and tknII3 tknII7/+ fruits showed early ripening of the locular domain while their pericarp ripening was stalled. Further examination of the ripening marker-gene RIPENING INHIBITOR (RIN) expression and 35S:amiR-TKN-II rin-1 mutant fruits suggested that TKN-II genes arrest RIN activity at the locular domain and promote it in the pericarp. These findings imply that CLASS-II KNOX genes redundantly coordinate maturation in both dry and fleshy fruits. In tomato, these genes also control spatial patterns of fruit ripening, utilizing differential regulation of RIN activity at different fruit domains.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 07-07-2021
Abstract: An understanding of land plant evolution is a prerequisite for in-depth knowledge of plant biology. Here we extract and explore information hidden in the increasing number of sequenced plant genomes, from bryophytes to angiosperms, to elucidate a specific biological question—how peptide signaling evolved. To conquer land and cope with changing environmental conditions, plants have gone through transformations that must have required innovations in cell-to-cell communication. We discuss peptides mediating endogenous and exogenous changes by interaction with receptors activating intracellular molecular signaling. Signaling peptides were discovered in angiosperms and operate in tissues and organs such as flowers, seeds, vasculature, and 3D meristems that are not universally conserved across land plants. Nevertheless, orthologs of angiosperm peptides and receptors have been identified in nonangiosperms. These discoveries provoke questions regarding coevolution of ligands and their receptors, and whether de novo interactions in peptide signaling pathways may have contributed to generate novel traits in land plants. The answers to such questions will have profound implications for the understanding of the evolution of cell-to-cell communication and the wealth of ersified terrestrial plants. Under this perspective, we have generated, analyzed, and reviewed phylogenetic, genomic, structural, and functional data to elucidate the evolution of peptide signaling.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 27-05-2008
DOI: 10.1016/J.FEBSLET.2008.05.019
Abstract: N-glycosylation is a common protein modification. Joining of polypeptide and carbohydrate elements into hybrid molecules provides an opportunity to fine-tune protein properties. However, the role of N-glycosylation on the development of multicellular organisms remains elusive. Here we report a hypomorphic allele of KNOPF/GLUCOSIDASE 1, which allows us to describe the effects of impaired alpha-glucosidase I on post-embryonic development of plants for the first time. This knf-101 mutation alters cell shape but does not affect cell arrangements, except for the patterning of specialized epidermal cells, delineating the significance of N-glycan processing during epidermal development in Arabidopsis.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 16-11-2022
DOI: 10.1093/JXB/ERAC454
Abstract: The pericarp is the predominant tissue determining the structural characteristics of most fruits. However, the molecular and genetic mechanisms controlling pericarp development remain only partially understood. Previous studies have identified that CLASS-II KNOX genes regulate fruit size, shape, and maturation in Arabidopsis thaliana and Solanum lycopersicum. Here we characterized the roles of the S. lycopersicum CLASS-II KNOX (TKN-II) genes in pericarp development via a detailed histological, anatomical, and karyotypical analysis of TKN-II gene clade mRNA-knockdown (35S:amiR-TKN-II) fruits. We identify that 35S:amiR-TKN-II pericarps contain more cells around their equatorial perimeter and fewer cell layers than the control. In addition, the cell sizes but not the ploidy levels of these pericarps were dramatically reduced. Further, we demonstrate that fruit shape and pericarp layer number phenotypes of the 35S:amiR-TKN-II fruits can be overridden by the procera mutant, known to induce a constitutive response to the plant hormone gibberellin. However, neither the procera mutation nor exogenous gibberellin application can fully rescue the reduced pericarp width and cell size phenotype of 35S:amiR-TKN-II pericarps. Our findings establish that TKN-II genes regulate tomato fruit anatomy, acting via gibberellin to control fruit shape but utilizing a gibberellin-independent pathway to control the size of pericarp cells.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.CUB.2018.06.040
Abstract: Complex multicellular plant bodies evolved in both generations of land plants. A new study demonstrates that CLAVATA3-like peptides function via conserved receptors in Physcomitrella patens as key molecules for morphological innovation of 3D growth in land plants.
Publisher: Japanese Society for Plant Cell and Molecular Biology
Date: 25-03-2021
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 20-11-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.11.19.469310
Abstract: Ripening is a complex developmental change of a mature organ, the fruit. In plants like a tomato, it involves softening, pigmentation, and biosynthesis of metabolites beneficial for the human diet. Examination of the transcriptional changes towards ripening suggests that redundant uncharacterized factors may be involved in the coordination of the ripening switch. Previous studies have demonstrated that Arabidopsis CLASS-II KNOX genes play a significant role in controlling the maturation of siliques and their transition to senescence. Here we examined the combined role of all four tomato CLASS-II KNOX genes in the maturation and ripening of fleshy fruits using an artificial microRNA targeting them simultaneously. As expected, the knockdown plants ( 35S::amiR-TKN-CL-II ) exhibited leaves with increased complexity, reminiscent of the leaf phenotype of plants overexpressing CLASS-I KNOX , which antagonize CLASS-II KNOX gene functions. The fruits of 35S::amiR-TKN-CL-II plants were notably smaller than the control. While their internal gel lacenta tissue softened and accumulated the typical pigmentation, the pericarp color break took place ten days later than control, and eventually, it turned yellow instead of red. Additionally, the pericarp of 35S::amiR-TKN-CL-II fruits remained significantly firmer than control even after three weeks of shelf storage. Strikingly, the 35S::amiR-TKN-CL-II fruits showed early ethylene release and respiration peak, but these were correlated only with liquefaction and pigmentation of the internal tissues. Our findings suggest that CLASS-II KNOX genes are required to coordinate the spatial and temporal patterns of tomato fruit ripening. Tomato CLASS-II KNOX genes play antagonistic roles in the regulation of ripening at the internal fruit domains and pericarp.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 11-02-2015
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 27-07-2013
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-03-2023
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.18827
Abstract: Multicellular organisms need mechanisms for communication between cells so that they can fulfill their purpose in the organism as a whole. Over the last two decades, several small post‐translationally modified peptides (PTMPs) have been identified as components of cell‐to‐cell signaling modules in flowering plants. Such peptides most often influence growth and development of organs not universally conserved among land plants. PTMPs have been matched to subfamily XI leucine‐rich repeat receptor‐like kinases with 20 repeats. Phylogenetic analyses, facilitated by recently published genomic sequences of non‐flowering plants, have identified seven clades of such receptors with a history back to the common ancestor of bryophytes and vascular plants. This raises a number of questions: When did peptide signaling arise during land plant evolution? Have orthologous peptide–receptor pairs preserved their biological functions? Has peptide signaling contributed to major innovations, such as stomata, vasculature, roots, seeds, and flowers? Using genomic, genetic, biochemical, and structural data and non‐angiosperm model species, it is now possible to address these questions. The vast number of peptides that have not yet found their partners suggests furthermore that we have far more to learn about peptide signaling in the coming decades.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-01-2021
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 06-10-2016
DOI: 10.7554/ELIFE.15023
Abstract: Leaves are flat determinate organs derived from indeterminate shoot apical meristems. The presence of a specific leaf meristem is debated, as anatomical features typical of meristems are not present in leaves. Here we demonstrate that multiple NGATHA (NGA) and CINCINNATA-class-TCP (CIN-TCP) transcription factors act redundantly, shortly after leaf initiation, to gradually restrict the activity of a leaf meristem in Arabidopsis thaliana to marginal and basal domains, and that their absence confers persistent marginal growth to leaves, cotyledons and floral organs. Following primordia initiation, the restriction of the broadly acting leaf meristem to the margins is mediated by the juxtaposition of adaxial and abaxial domains and maintained by WOX homeobox transcription factors, whereas other marginal elaboration genes are dispensable for its maintenance. This genetic framework parallels the morphogenetic program of shoot apical meristems and may represent a relic of an ancestral shoot system from which seed plant leaves evolved.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-10-2021
DOI: 10.1007/S11418-021-01572-4
Abstract: Ginger (genus Zingiber) is widely used as a spice and a medicinal herb worldwide and is the major ingredient of traditional local drinks such as jamu in Southeast Asia. Because ginger is frequently consumed, there is an increasing interest in organic ginger production without the use of synthetic agrochemicals. Recent studies have reported that certain kinds of entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) can establish endophytic- or mycorrhiza-like relationships with plants, thereby promoting plant growth and health, in addition to their typical role in crop protection as biological control agents. In this study, we explored the possibility of non-entomopathogenic effects of EPF Beauveria bassiana and Cordyceps fumosorosea on ginger plants (Zingiber officinale) via antagonism with Fusarium oxysporum or the parasitic nematode Meloidogyne incognita. The two EPF negatively affected the growth of F. oxysporum and survival of M. incognita in vitro. The application of EPF did not have any negative effect on the growth of ginger plants. Soil chemical properties were not different between the plots with or without EPF application, while the ersity of soil bacteria was observed to increase on application of EPF. At least C. fumosorosea appeared to persist in soil during the period of ginger cultivation. Thus, these EPF are potentially useful tools for producing chemical-free ginger.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 04-06-2020
DOI: 10.1101/2020.06.02.130120
Abstract: An understanding of land plant evolution is a prerequisite for in-depth knowledge of plant biology. Here we extract and explore information hidden in the increasing number of sequenced plant genomes, from bryophytes to angiosperms, to elucidate a specific biological question – how peptide signaling evolved. To conquer land and cope with changing environmental conditions, plants have gone through transformations that must have required a revolution in cell-to-cell communication. We discuss peptides mediating endogenous and exogenous changes by interaction with receptors activating intracellular molecular signaling. Signaling peptides were discovered in angiosperms and operate in tissues and organs like flowers, seeds, vasculature, and 3D meristems that are not universally conserved across land plants. Nevertheless, orthologues of angiosperm peptides and receptors have been identified in non-flowering plants. These discoveries provoke questions regarding the co-evolution of ligands and their receptors, and whether de novo interactions in peptide signaling pathways may have contributed to generate novel traits in land plants. The answers to such questions will have profound implications for the understanding of evolution of cell-to-cell communication and the wealth of ersified terrestrial plants. Under this perspective we have generated, analyzed and reviewed phylogenetic, genomic, structural, and functional data to elucidate the evolution of peptide signaling.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 28-07-2010
DOI: 10.1261/RNA.2265710
Abstract: Diverse and precise control is essential for eukaryotic gene expression. This is accomplished through the recruitment of a myriad of proteins to a nascent messenger RNA (mRNA) to mediate modifications, such as capping, splicing, 3′-end processing, and export. Despite being important for every cell, however, the mechanism by which the formation of erse messenger ribonucleoprotein (mRNP) particles contributes to maintaining intricate systems in the multicellular organism remains incompletely defined. We identified and characterized a mutant gene named erecta mRNA under-expressed ( emu ) that leads to the defective mRNA accumulation of ERECTA , a developmental regulator in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana . EMU encodes a protein homologous to a component of the THO complex that is required for the generation of functional mRNPs. Further analysis suggested that EMU is genetically associated with SERRATE , HYPONASTIC LEAVES1 , and ARGONAUTE1 , which are required for proper RNA maturation or action. Furthermore, mutations in another THO-related gene led to embryonic lethality. These findings support the presence and importance of the THO-related complex in plants as well as yeast and vertebrates.
Publisher: Annual Reviews
Date: 23-11-2016
DOI: 10.1146/ANNUREV-GENET-120215-035227
Abstract: The life cycles of eukaryotes alternate between haploid and diploid phases, which are initiated by meiosis and gamete fusion, respectively. In both ascomycete and basidiomycete fungi and chlorophyte algae, the haploid-to-diploid transition is regulated by a pair of paralogous homeodomain protein encoding genes. That a common genetic program controls the haploid-to-diploid transition in phylogenetically disparate eukaryotic lineages suggests this may be the ancestral function for homeodomain proteins. Multicellularity has evolved independently in many eukaryotic lineages in either one or both phases of the life cycle. Organisms, such as land plants, exhibiting a life cycle whereby multicellular bodies develop in both the haploid and diploid phases are often referred to as possessing an alternation of generations. We review recent progress on understanding the genetic basis for the land plant alternation of generations and highlight the roles that homeodomain-encoding genes may have played in the evolution of complex multicellularity in this lineage.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 20-07-2021
Abstract: Short secreted plant peptides act as key signaling molecules and control a plethora of developmental and physiological processes. The ROOT GROWTH FACTOR (RGF)/GOLVEN (GLV)/CLE-Like (CLEL) family of peptides was discovered to be involved in root development in Arabidopsis thaliana . In contrast to active research efforts, which have been revealing receptors and downstream signaling components, little attention has been paid to evolutionary processes that shaped the RGF signaling system as we know it in angiosperms today. As a first step toward understanding how RGF signaling emerged and evolved, this study aimed to elucidate the phylogenetic distribution and functional conservation of RGF-like sequences. Using publicly available, genome and transcriptome data, RGF-like sequences were searched in 27 liverworts, 22 mosses, 8 hornworts, 23 lycophytes, 23 ferns, 38 gymnosperms, and 8 angiosperms. This led to the identification of more than four hundreds of RGF-like sequences in all major extant land plant lineages except for hornworts. Sequence comparisons within and between taxonomic groups identified lineage-specific characters. Notably, one of the two major RGF subgroups, represented by A. thaliana RGF6/GLV1/CLEL6, was found only in vascular plants. This subgroup, therefore, likely emerged in a common ancestor of vascular plants after its ergence from bryophytes. In bryophytes, our results infer independent losses of RGF-like sequences in mosses and hornworts. On the other hand, a single, highly similar RGF-like sequence is conserved in liverworts, including Marchantia polymorpha , a genetically tractable model species. When constitutively expressed, the M. polymorpha RGF-like sequence (Mp RGF ) affected plant development and growth both in A. thaliana and M. polymorpha . This suggests that MpRGF can exert known RGF-like effects and that Mp RGF is under transcriptional control so that its potent activities are precisely controlled. These data suggest that RGFs are conserved as signaling molecules in both vascular plants and bryophytes and that lineage-specific ersification has increased sequence variations of RGFs. All together, our findings form a basis for further studies into RGF peptides and their receptors, which will contribute to our understandings of how peptide signaling pathways evolve.
Publisher: The Company of Biologists
Date: 15-05-2008
DOI: 10.1242/DEV.014993
Abstract: Maintenance of the stem cell population located at the apical meristems is essential for repetitive organ initiation during the development of higher plants. Here, we have characterized the roles of OBERON1(OBE1) and its paralog OBERON2 (OBE2), which encode plant homeodomain finger proteins, in the maintenance and/or establishment of the meristems in Arabidopsis. Although the obe1 and obe2 single mutants were indistinguishable from wild-type plants, the obe1 obe2 double mutant displayed premature termination of the shoot meristem, suggesting that OBE1 and OBE2 function redundantly. Further analyses revealed that OBE1 and OBE2allow the plant cells to acquire meristematic activity via the WUSCHEL-CLAVATA pathway, which is required for the maintenance of the stem cell population, and they function parallel to the SHOOT MERISTEMLESS gene, which is required for preventing cell differentiation in the shoot meristem. In addition, obe1 obe2 mutants failed to establish the root apical meristem, lacking both the initial cells and the quiescent center. In situ hybridization revealed that expression of PLETHORA and SCARECROW, which are required for stem cell specification and maintenance in the root meristem, was lost from obe1 obe2 mutant embryos. Taken together, these data suggest that the OBE1 and OBE2 genes are functionally redundant and crucial for the maintenance and/or establishment of both the shoot and root meristems.
No related grants have been discovered for Chihiro Furumizu.