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Characterization of five RALF-like genes from Solanum chacoense provides support for a developmental role in plants

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Abstract

Five RALF (rapid alkalinization factor)-like genes, named ScRALF1 to 5, were isolated from fertilized ovule and ovary cDNA libraries of Solanum chacoense. They showed high sequence similarities with the RALF protein sequence from Nicotiana tabacum, and exhibited the characteristic architecture of RALF polypeptides. All ScRALFs were moderately to highly expressed at some stage of fruit maturation. ScRALF1 and ScRALF3 were predominantly expressed in ovaries and larger fruits, while ScRALF2, ScRALF4, and ScRALF5 were also expressed in other tissues, indicating that while some RALFs may be involved in fruit maturation, others could be involved in other developmental processes. Wounding or treatment of plants with growth regulators involved in plant defense responses had no significant impact on the mRNA level of any of these genes. These results suggest and support previous data showing that RALF peptides are more likely to act as a small peptide involved in plant development than in defense responses.

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Abbreviations

EST:

Expressed sequence tag

RALF:

Rapid alkalinization factor

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Acknowledgements

Hugo Germain and Éric Chevalier contributed equally to this work. This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). H. Germain and E. Chevalier are the recipients of a Ph. D. and an M. Sc. fellowship award, respectively, from NSERC. This work was also supported by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and by the Canada Research Chair program (D.P. Matton). We also thank Gabriel Téodorescu for plant care and maintenance, Simon Joly for phylogenetic analysis, and Homère Ménard-Lamarre and François Major (Université de Montréal) for setting up our bioinformatic facility.

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  1. Institut de Recherche en Biologie Végétale (IRBV), Département de Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, 4101 Sherbrooke Est, Montreal , QC, H1X 2B2 , Canada

    Hugo Germain, Éric Chevalier, Sébastien Caron & Daniel P. Matton

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  1. Hugo Germain
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  2. Éric Chevalier
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  3. Sébastien Caron
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  4. Daniel P. Matton
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Correspondence to Daniel P. Matton.

Additional information

GenBank accession numbers: ScRALF1, AY422824; ScRALF2, AY422825; ScRALF3, AY422826; ScRALF4, AY422827; ScRALF5, AY655141

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Germain, H., Chevalier, É., Caron, S. et al. Characterization of five RALF-like genes from Solanum chacoense provides support for a developmental role in plants. Planta 220, 447–454 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-004-1352-0

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