Background
IDA (INFLORESCENCE DEFICIENT IN ABSCISSION)-like signaling peptides and the associated HAE (HAESA)-like family of receptor kinases were originally reported in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) to be involved in the regulation of abscission. IDA peptides, as cell-to-cell communication elements, appear to be implicated in many developmental processes that rely on cell separation events, and even in the responses to abiotic stresses. However, the knowledge related to the molecular machinery regulating abscission and other cell separation processes in economically important crops is scarce. In this work, we determined the conservation and phylogeny of the IDA-like and HAE-like gene families in relevant species of the Solanaceae family and analyzed the expression of these genes in Nicotiana benthamiana to identify members involved in abscission, stem growth and response to drought conditions.
Results
The phylogenetic relationships among the IDA-like members of the species of Solanaceae studied, grouped the NbenIDA1 (A and B) and NbenIDA2 (A and B) pairs of genes with the Arabidopsis prepropeptides related to abscission. In silico analyses of the regulatory elements of the promoter region of IDA-like members showed that these two pairs of genes, NbenIDA1 and NbenIDA2, contained drought and hormonal response elements, although NbenIDA2A lacked the hormonal regulatory elements. Expression analyses showed that both NbenIDA1 genes were upregulated during corolla abscission. NbenIDA1 and NbenIDA2 genes showed tissue differential expression under water stress conditions, since NbenIDA1 genes were highly expressed in stressed leaves while NbenIDA2 genes, especially NbenIDA2B, were highly expressed in stressed roots. In non-stressed active growing plants, nodes and internodes were the tissues with the highest expression levels of all members of the IDA-like family and their putative HAE-like receptors.
Conclusion
The results suggest that NbenIDA1A and NbenIDA1B are both involved in the natural process of corolla abscission while the NbenIDA1 and NbenIDA2 pair of genes are implicated in the response to water stress. The data also suggest that IDA peptides may be important during stem growth and development. These results add new evidence that the functional module formed by IDA peptides and its receptor kinases, as defined in Arabidopsis, may also be conserved in Solanaceae.