Overexpression of the AtSHI gene in poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima, results in compact plants

M. Ashraful Islam; Henrik Vlk Lütken; Sissel  Haugslien; Dag-Ragner Blystad; Sissel  Torre; Jakub Rolcik; Søren Kjærsgaard Rasmussen; Jorunn E. Olsen; Jihong Liu  Clarke

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0053377

Overexpression of the AtSHI gene in poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima, results in compact plants

M. Ashraful Islam, Henrik Vlk Lütken, Sissel Haugslien, Dag-Ragner Blystad, Sissel Torre, Jakub Rolcik, Søren Kjærsgaard Rasmussen, Jorunn E. Olsen, Jihong Liu Clarke

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Abstract

Euphorbia pulcherrima, poinsettia, is a non-food and non-feed vegetatively propagated ornamental plant. Appropriate plant height is one of the most important traits in poinsettia production and is commonly achieved by application of chemical growth retardants. To produce compact poinsettia plants with desirable height and reduce the utilization of growth retardants, the Arabidopsis SHORT INTERNODE (AtSHI) gene controlled by the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter was introduced into poinsettia by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Three independent transgenic lines were produced and stable integration of transgene was verified by PCR and Southern blot analysis. Reduced plant height (21–52%) and internode lengths (31–49%) were obtained in the transgenic lines compared to control plants. This correlates positively with the AtSHI transcript levels, with the highest levels in the most dwarfed transgenic line (TL1). The indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) content appeared lower (11–31% reduction) in the transgenic lines compared to the wild type (WT) controls, with the lowest level (31% reduction) in TL1. Total internode numbers, bract numbers and bract area were significantly reduced in all transgenic lines in comparison with the WT controls. Only TL1 showed significantly lower plant diameter, total leaf area and total dry weight, whereas none of the AtSHI expressing lines showed altered timing of flower initiation, cyathia abscission or bract necrosis. This study demonstrated that introduction of the AtSHI gene into poinsettia by genetic engineering can be an effective approach in controlling plant height without negatively affecting flowering time. This can help to reduce or avoid the use of toxic growth retardants of environmental and human health concern. This is the first report that AtSHI gene was overexpressed in poinsettia and transgenic poinsettia plants with compact growth were produced

Original language	English
Article number	e53377
Journal	P L o S One
Volume	8
Issue number	1
Number of pages	10
ISSN	1932-6203
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0053377
Publication status	Published - 15 Jan 2013

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Overexpression of the AtSHI Gene in Poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima, Results in Compact PlantsFinal published version, 552 KB

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@article{f31a98d52cb84674aa333bd1248e5dd6,

title = "Overexpression of the AtSHI gene in poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima, results in compact plants",

abstract = "Euphorbia pulcherrima, poinsettia, is a non-food and non-feed vegetatively propagated ornamental plant. Appropriate plant height is one of the most important traits in poinsettia production and is commonly achieved by application of chemical growth retardants. To produce compact poinsettia plants with desirable height and reduce the utilization of growth retardants, the Arabidopsis SHORT INTERNODE (AtSHI) gene controlled by the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter was introduced into poinsettia by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Three independent transgenic lines were produced and stable integration of transgene was verified by PCR and Southern blot analysis. Reduced plant height (21–52%) and internode lengths (31–49%) were obtained in the transgenic lines compared to control plants. This correlates positively with the AtSHI transcript levels, with the highest levels in the most dwarfed transgenic line (TL1). The indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) content appeared lower (11–31% reduction) in the transgenic lines compared to the wild type (WT) controls, with the lowest level (31% reduction) in TL1. Total internode numbers, bract numbers and bract area were significantly reduced in all transgenic lines in comparison with the WT controls. Only TL1 showed significantly lower plant diameter, total leaf area and total dry weight, whereas none of the AtSHI expressing lines showed altered timing of flower initiation, cyathia abscission or bract necrosis. This study demonstrated that introduction of the AtSHI gene into poinsettia by genetic engineering can be an effective approach in controlling plant height without negatively affecting flowering time. This can help to reduce or avoid the use of toxic growth retardants of environmental and human health concern. This is the first report that AtSHI gene was overexpressed in poinsettia and transgenic poinsettia plants with compact growth were produced",

author = "Islam, {M. Ashraful} and L{\"u}tken, {Henrik Vlk} and Sissel Haugslien and Dag-Ragner Blystad and Sissel Torre and Jakub Rolcik and Rasmussen, {S{\o}ren Kj{\ae}rsgaard} and Olsen, {Jorunn E.} and Clarke, {Jihong Liu}",

year = "2013",

month = jan,

day = "15",

doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0053377",

language = "English",

volume = "8",

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T1 - Overexpression of the AtSHI gene in poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima, results in compact plants

AU - Islam, M. Ashraful

AU - Lütken, Henrik Vlk

AU - Haugslien, Sissel

AU - Blystad, Dag-Ragner

AU - Torre, Sissel

AU - Rolcik, Jakub

AU - Rasmussen, Søren Kjærsgaard

AU - Olsen, Jorunn E.

AU - Clarke, Jihong Liu

PY - 2013/1/15

Y1 - 2013/1/15

N2 - Euphorbia pulcherrima, poinsettia, is a non-food and non-feed vegetatively propagated ornamental plant. Appropriate plant height is one of the most important traits in poinsettia production and is commonly achieved by application of chemical growth retardants. To produce compact poinsettia plants with desirable height and reduce the utilization of growth retardants, the Arabidopsis SHORT INTERNODE (AtSHI) gene controlled by the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter was introduced into poinsettia by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Three independent transgenic lines were produced and stable integration of transgene was verified by PCR and Southern blot analysis. Reduced plant height (21–52%) and internode lengths (31–49%) were obtained in the transgenic lines compared to control plants. This correlates positively with the AtSHI transcript levels, with the highest levels in the most dwarfed transgenic line (TL1). The indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) content appeared lower (11–31% reduction) in the transgenic lines compared to the wild type (WT) controls, with the lowest level (31% reduction) in TL1. Total internode numbers, bract numbers and bract area were significantly reduced in all transgenic lines in comparison with the WT controls. Only TL1 showed significantly lower plant diameter, total leaf area and total dry weight, whereas none of the AtSHI expressing lines showed altered timing of flower initiation, cyathia abscission or bract necrosis. This study demonstrated that introduction of the AtSHI gene into poinsettia by genetic engineering can be an effective approach in controlling plant height without negatively affecting flowering time. This can help to reduce or avoid the use of toxic growth retardants of environmental and human health concern. This is the first report that AtSHI gene was overexpressed in poinsettia and transgenic poinsettia plants with compact growth were produced

AB - Euphorbia pulcherrima, poinsettia, is a non-food and non-feed vegetatively propagated ornamental plant. Appropriate plant height is one of the most important traits in poinsettia production and is commonly achieved by application of chemical growth retardants. To produce compact poinsettia plants with desirable height and reduce the utilization of growth retardants, the Arabidopsis SHORT INTERNODE (AtSHI) gene controlled by the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter was introduced into poinsettia by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Three independent transgenic lines were produced and stable integration of transgene was verified by PCR and Southern blot analysis. Reduced plant height (21–52%) and internode lengths (31–49%) were obtained in the transgenic lines compared to control plants. This correlates positively with the AtSHI transcript levels, with the highest levels in the most dwarfed transgenic line (TL1). The indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) content appeared lower (11–31% reduction) in the transgenic lines compared to the wild type (WT) controls, with the lowest level (31% reduction) in TL1. Total internode numbers, bract numbers and bract area were significantly reduced in all transgenic lines in comparison with the WT controls. Only TL1 showed significantly lower plant diameter, total leaf area and total dry weight, whereas none of the AtSHI expressing lines showed altered timing of flower initiation, cyathia abscission or bract necrosis. This study demonstrated that introduction of the AtSHI gene into poinsettia by genetic engineering can be an effective approach in controlling plant height without negatively affecting flowering time. This can help to reduce or avoid the use of toxic growth retardants of environmental and human health concern. This is the first report that AtSHI gene was overexpressed in poinsettia and transgenic poinsettia plants with compact growth were produced

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0053377

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0053377

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 23308204

SN - 1932-6203

VL - 8

JO - PLoS Computational Biology

JF - PLoS Computational Biology

IS - 1

M1 - e53377

ER -