Abstract
Prickles are epidermal outgrowth found on the aerial surface of several terrestrial plants. Microscopic studies on prickles of S. viarum Dunal indicated a crucial role of glandular trichomes (GTs) in their development. A spontaneously obtained prickleless mutant showed normal epidermal GTs, but its downstream developmental process to prickle was perturbed. Thus, prickleless mutant offers an ideal opportunity to unveil molecular regulators working downstream to GTs in the prickle formation. Differential transcriptome analysis of epidermis of prickly and prickleless mutant revealed that expression of several defense regulators like ethylene, salicylic acid, PR-proteins, etc. were significantly down-regulated in prickleless mutant, provide an important link between defense and prickle development. It was also noteworthy that the expression of few essential development related TFs like MADS-box, R2R3-MYB, REM, DRL1, were also down-regulated in the stem, petioles, and leaves of prickleless mutant indicating their potential role in prickle development. Interestingly, the gene expression of terpenoid, steroid, flavonoid, glucosinolate, and lignin biosynthesis pathways were up-regulated in prickleless mutant. The biochemical and qRT-PCR analysis also confirmed metabolite elevation. These results indicated that the loss of prickle was compensated by elevated secondary metabolism in the prickleless mutant which played important role in the biotic and abiotic stress management.
Highlights
Prickles are epidermal outgrowth found on the aerial surface of several terrestrial plants
Stem when examined under light microscope revealed a specific character of prickles that they have a glandular trichome associated to their tip (Fig. 1e)
We have performed scanning electron microscopy of the stem which revealed that surface of prickly wild type (WT) (Fig. 1g) was covered with dense multicellular glandular trichomes (GTs), non-GTs and the prickles, whereas prickleless mutant was covered with multicellular GTs and non-GTs (Fig. 1h)
Summary
Prickles are epidermal outgrowth found on the aerial surface of several terrestrial plants. Were significantly down-regulated in prickleless mutant, provide an important link between defense and prickle development. The biochemical and qRT-PCR analysis confirmed metabolite elevation These results indicated that the loss of prickle was compensated by elevated secondary metabolism in the prickleless mutant which played important role in the biotic and abiotic stress management. Which are produced by epidermal cells, mainly in glandular trichomes (GTs), provide defense against herbivores[4,5,6]. These structural and biochemical mechanisms varies with the plant species. Our study identified an interesting link between prickle development and secondary metabolism important for plant adaptation
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