Identification and expressional profiling of putative MAX1 gene in sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.)

Abstract

Sugar beet is an industrial crop cultivated mostly for sucrose production. Today, modern hybridization applications haveraised the sugar content to 20%. Considering the increased demand globally, it is required to develop new yield–increasing applicationstrategies. This requires extensive knowledge of the genetic mechanisms to control plant growth and metabolism. Investigation ofphytohormones is promising to increase our knowledge of plant growth and developmental processes. Strigolactones are recentlyintroduced plant hormones. They are responsible for shoot and root architecture, and involved in development, communication,germination, and responses to stress. Four major proteins (AtD27, MAX1, MAX3, MAX4) are responsible for the strigolactonebiosynthesis. MAX1 protein is essential for the distinct production of strigolactone molecules. The studies on strigolactones have beencarried out mostly using Arabidopsis thaliana. There are only few studies on agriculturally important plants. No reports are availablefor the investigation of strigolactone biosynthesis in sugar beet (Beta vulgaris). In this manuscript, we profiled the expression of MAX1gene in sugar beet treated with strigolactone hormones (rac-GR24, (±)-strigol and (±)-5-deoxystrigol) and a strigolactone biosynthesisinhibitor (TIS108). Our data suggest that MAX1 has a conserved biosynthetic and regulatory metabolism in sugar beet compared topreviously investigated plant species.