TY  - EJOU
AU  - Hong, Peipei 
AU  - Wang, Mei 
AU  - Zhi, Liting 
AU  - Chen, Hongwei 
AU  - Liu, Kefeng 
AU  - Wang, Hongli 

TI  - Molecular Basis of Unique Branching Phenotypes in <i>Salvia splendens</i> and the Role of PSY
T2  - Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany

PY  - 2022
VL  - 91
IS  - 6
SN  - 1851-5657

AB  - The branching system of higher plants plays a very important role in plant morphogenesis, and the number of branches can directly affect crop yield and the ornamental value of plants. It is a complicated development process involving complex molecular mechanisms. The ‘Cailinghong’ variety of <i>Salvia splendens</i> is characterized by its great branching ability with the ability to grow into a spherical form naturally, without pinching. To gain insight into the molecular events during the branching development of <i>S. splendens</i>, suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) technology was used to screen differentially expressed genes between the erect plant type (strain 35) and the spherical plant type (‘Cailinghong’). In total, 96 and 116 unigenes were annotated. Four and eight unigenes up-regulated in ‘Cailinghong’ and strain 35, respectively, were associated with plant hormone anabolism and signal transduction, suggesting that they participate in the branching process. One of these genes, phytoene synthase (<i>PSY</i>), is a precursor of the new plant hormone group strigolactones. Using the <i>PSY</i> fragment (192 bp) as a template, the cDNA sequence of <i>PSY</i> in <i>S. splendens</i> was cloned and named <i>SsPSY</i>. A relative expression analysis and transgenic test results indicated that <i>SsPSY</i> plays an important role in lateral branch development in ‘Cailinghong’. These results provide new insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying branching in <i>S. splendens</i>.
KW  - Lateral branch development; differential gene expression; <i>Salvia splendens</i>; suppression subtractive hybridization library; <i>SsPSY</i>

DO  - 10.32604/phyton.2022.018435