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YABBY proteins are important transcription factors that regulate morphogenesis and organ development in plants. In order to study the YABBY of strawberry, bioinformatic technique were used to identify the YABBY gene families in Fragaria vesca (diploid) and Fragaria × ananassa (octoploid), and then analyze the sequence characters, phylogeny and collinearity of the family members. The RNA-seq data and the quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) technique were used to assay the expression patterns of the family members. A green fluorescent protein (GFP) was fused with FvYABBYs and transiently expressed in tobacco leaf cells for the subcellular localization. As the results, six FvYABBY genes and 26 FxaYABBY genes were identified from F . vesca and F .× ananassa , respectively. The FvYABBY genes were grouped into five clades, and five family members were orthologous with AtYABBY genes of Arabidopsis . In F . vesca , all of the FvYABBY s were basically not expressed not expressed in root and receptacle, while FvYABBY1 , FvYABBY2 , FvYABBY5 and FvYABBY6 were highly expressed in leaf, shoot, flower and achene. In F .× ananassa , FxaYABBY1 , FxaYABBY2 , FxaYABBY5 and FxaYABBY6 were expressed in achene, and all FxaYABBY were poorly or not expressed in receptacle. Additionally, under the abiotic stresses of low temperature, high salt and drought, the expression of FvYABBY1 , FvYABBY3 , FvYABBY4 and FvYABBY6 were down-regulated, FvYABBY5 was up-regulated, and FvYABBY2 was up-regulated and then down-regulated. In tobacco leaf cells, the subcellular localization of FvYABBY proteins were in the nucleus. These results provides a foundation for the functional researches of YABBY gene in strawberry.

SUN gene is a group of key genes regulating plant growth and development. Here, SUN gene families of strawberry were identified from the genome of the diploid Fragaria vesca , and their physicochemical properties, genes structure, evolution and genes expression were also analyzed. Our results showed that there were thirty-one FvSUN genes in F . vesca and the FvSUNs encoded proteins were classified into seven groups, and the members in the same group showed high similarity in gene structures and conservative motifs. The electronic subcellular localization of FvSUNs was mainly in the nucleus. Collinearity analysis showed that the members of FvSUN gene family were mainly expanded by segmental duplication in F . vesca , and Arabidopsis and F . vesca shared twenty-three pairs of orthologous SUN genes. According to the expression pattern in different tissues shown by the transcriptome data of F . vesca , the FvSUNs gene can be divided into three types: (1) expressed in nearly all tissues, (2) hardly expressed in any tissues, and (3) expressed in special tissues. The gene expression pattern of FvSUNs was further verified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Additionally, the seedlings of F . vesca were treated by different abiotic stresses, and the expression level of 31 FvSUNs genes were assayed by qRT-PCR. The expression of most of the tested genes was induced by cold, high salt or drought stress. Our studies may facilitate revealing the biological function and molecular mechanism of SUN genes in strawberry.

During meiosis, Sad1/UNC-84 (SUN) domain proteins play conserved roles in promoting telomere bouquet formation and homologous pairing across species. Arabidopsis ( Arabidopsis thaliana ) AtSUN1 and AtSUN2 have been shown to have overlapping functions in meiosis. However, the role of SUN proteins in rice ( Oryza sativa ) meiosis and the extent of functional redundancy between them remain elusive. Here, we generated single and double mutants of OsSUN1 and OsSUN2 in rice using genome editing. The Ossun1 Ossun2 double mutant showed severe defects in telomere clustering, homologous pairing, and crossover formation, suggesting that OsSUN1 and OsSUN2 are essential for rice meiosis. When introducing a mutant allele of O. sativa SPORULATION11-1 ( OsSPO11-1 ), which encodes a topoisomerase initiating homologous recombination, into the Ossun1 Ossun2 mutant, we observed a combined Osspo11-1 - and Ossun1 Ossun2 -like phenotype, demonstrating that OsSUN1 and OsSUN2 promote bouquet formation independent of OsSPO11-1 but regulate pairing and crossover formation downstream of OsSPO11-1. Importantly, the Ossun1 single mutant had a normal phenotype, but meiosis was disrupted in the Ossun2 mutant, indicating that OsSUN1 and OsSUN2 are not completely redundant in rice. Further analyses revealed a genetic dosage-dependent effect and an evolutionary differentiation between OsSUN1 and OsSUN2 These results suggested that OsSUN2 plays a more critical role than OsSUN1 in rice meiosis. Taken together, this work reveals the essential but partially redundant roles of OsSUN1 and OsSUN2 in rice meiosis and demonstrates that functional divergence of SUN proteins has taken place during evolution., (© 2020 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.)

DNA-binding proteins, including transcription factors, epigenetic and chromatin modifiers, control gene expressions in plants. To pinpoint the binding sits of DNA-binding proteins in genome is crucial for decoding gene regulatory networks. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) followed by high-throughput DNA sequencing (ChIP-Seq) is a widely used approach to identify the DNA regions bound by a specific protein in vivo. The information generated from ChIP-Seq has tremendously advanced our understanding on the mechanism of transcription factors, cofactors and histone modifications in regulating gene expression. In this review, we reviewed the recent research advance of ChIP-Seq in plants, including description of the ChIP-Seq workflow and its various applications in plants, and in addition, provided perspective of the potential advances of ChIP-Seq.

Plant clathrin-mediated membrane trafficking is involved in many developmental processes as well as in responses to environmental cues. Previous studies have shown that clathrin-mediated endocytosis of the plasma membrane (PM) auxin transporter PIN-FORMED1 is regulated by the extracellular auxin receptor AUXIN BINDING PROTEIN1 (ABP1). However, the mechanisms by which ABP1 and other factors regulate clathrin-mediated trafficking are poorly understood. Here, we applied a genetic strategy and time-resolved imaging to dissect the role of clathrin light chains (CLCs) and ABP1 in auxin regulation of clathrin-mediated trafficking in Arabidopsis thaliana. Auxin was found to differentially regulate the PM and trans-Golgi network/early endosome (TGN/EE) association of CLCs and heavy chains (CHCs) in an ABP1-dependent but TRANSPORT INHIBITOR RESPONSE1/AUXIN-BINDING F-BOX PROTEIN (TIR1/AFB)-independent manner. Loss of CLC2 and CLC3 affected CHC membrane association, decreased both internalization and intracellular trafficking of PM proteins, and impaired auxin-regulated endocytosis. Consistent with these results, basipetal auxin transport, auxin sensitivity and distribution, and root gravitropism were also found to be dramatically altered in clc2 clc3 double mutants, resulting in pleiotropic defects in plant development. These results suggest that CLCs are key regulators in clathrin-mediated trafficking downstream of ABP1-mediated signaling and thus play a critical role in membrane trafficking from the TGN/EE and PM during plant development.