Homologs of the STYLISH gene family control nectary development in Aquilegia

Abstract

Floral nectaries are an interesting example of a convergent trait in flowering plants, and are associated with the diversification of numerous angiosperm lineages, including the adaptive radiation of the New World Aquilegia species. However, we know very little as to what genes contribute to nectary development and evolution, particularly in noncore eudicot taxa. We analyzed expression patterns and used RNAi-based methods to investigate the functions of homologs from the STYLISH (STY) family in nectar spur development in Aquilegia coerulea. We found that AqSTY1 exhibits concentrated expression in the presumptive nectary of the growing spur tip, and triple gene silencing of the three STY-like genes revealed that they function in style and nectary development. Strong expression of STY homologs was also detected in the nectary-bearing petals of Delphinium and Epimedium. Our results suggest that the novel recruitment of STY homologs to control nectary development is likely to have occurred before the diversification of the Ranunculaceae and Berberidaceae. To date, the STY homologs of the Ranunculales are the only alternative loci for the control of nectary development in flowering plants, providing a critical data point in understanding the evolutionary origin and developmental basis of nectaries.

An integrated transcriptomics and metabolomics analysis of the Cucurbita pepo nectary implicates key modules of primary metabolism involved in nectar synthesis and secretion

“…In our study MYB305 , a key transcription factor in eudicot floral nectary function (Liu & Thornburg, ; Liu et al., ; Schmitt et al., ; Wang et al., ), displayed little difference in expression between squash male and female nectaries; however, three transcription factors —SHI‐related sequence 1 , heat stress transcription factor A‐6b, and UNUSUAL FLORAL ORGANS‐like— displayed preferential expression female over male nectaries. Interestingly, SHI‐related sequence 1 is a member of the STYLISH gene family, which control nectary development in Aquilegia (Min, Bunn, & Kramer, ).…”

The morphology, molecular development and ecological function of pseudonectaries on Nigella damascena (Ranunculaceae) petals

“…Despite the diversity, it is widely accepted that the nectary has been one of the most influential key innovations that promoted the diversification of many plant lineages 7,[12][13][14] . Meanwhile, it has been found that, to secrete nectar, nectary cells should be able to synthesize and transport sugar and other necessary components 10,[15][16][17] ; genes regulating the formation and proper functioning of nectaries, such as CRABS CLAW (CRC) of the YABBY family, STYLISH1(STY1), STY2, and LATERAL ROOT PROMORDIUM (LRP) of the STY family, and SWEET9 of the SWEET family, therefore, are indispensable (at least in eudicots) 2,16,[18][19][20] .…”

An integrated transcriptomics and metabolomics analysis of theCucurbita peponectary implicates key modules of primary metabolism involved in nectar synthesis and secretion

“…In our study MYB305, a key transcription factor in eudicot floral nectary function (Liu et al, 2009; Liu and Thornburg, 2012; Wang et al, 2014; Schmitt et al, 2018), displayed little difference in expression between squash male and female nectaries; however, three transcription factors – SHI-related sequence 1, heat stress transcription factor A-6b and UNUSUAL FLORAL ORGANS-like – displayed preferential expression female over male nectaries. Interestingly, SHI-related sequence 1 is a member of the STYLISH gene family, which control nectary development in Aquilegia (Min et al, 2018).…”