Ethylene and polyamines form a negative feedback loop to regulate peach fruit ripening via the transcription factor PpeERF113 by regulating the expression of PpePAO1

Abstract

Ethylene and polyamines (PAs) have antagonistic roles during fruit ripening. PAs affect both ethylene biosynthetic and signal transduction pathways, but the regulatory effects of ethylene on PA metabolism during fruit ripening have remained largely unknown. Here, we found that ethylene enhanced PA catabolism by regulating expression of a peach PA oxidase gene, PpePAO1. Knocking out PpePAO1 delayed peach fruit ripening, whereas PpePAO1 overexpression promoted tomato fruit ripening. Both in vitro and in vivo assays demonstrated that an ethylene response factor (ERF), PpeERF113, activated PpePAO1 by direct binding to the promoter. PA levels were significantly increased and ripening was delayed in PpeERF113 knockdown peach fruit. Correspondingly, PA levels were significantly decreased when PpeERF113 was overexpressed in peach. PpeERF113 was also found to be upregulated in PpePAO1 knockdowns, indicating that PA catabolism has a regulatory function in ethylene signal transduction. Together, our results suggest that ethylene accelerates peach fruit ripening in part by promoting PA catabolism through PpeERF113-mediated regulation of PpePAO1 expression. To our knowledge, this is the first report related to the regulatory mechanism of ethylene in PA catabolism during fruit ripening. This study contributes new understanding of the crosstalk between ethylene and PAs during fruit ripening.