In vascular and nonvascular plants, PHOSPHATE1 (PHO1) homologs have vital functions in the harvesting and transferring of phosphate. In tomatoes, six genes (SlPHO1;1‐SlPHO1;6) are homologous to Arabidopsis' PHO1 (AtPHO1). Thus, scientists from Chinese Academy of Sciences used CRISPR-Cas9 to reveal the function of PHO1 in phosphate nutrition of tomatoes.
An analysis showed that SlPHO1 family is composed of three clusters, wherein SlPHO1;1 is the most similar to AtPHO1. SlPHO1;1 deletion mutants induced by CRISPR-Cas9 displayed typical symptoms of inorganic phosphate (Pi) starvation, such as decreased shoot fresh weight and increased root fresh weight, therefore having a greater root-to-shoot ratio. Mutants also exhibited higher levels of anthocyanin and soluble Pi in the root and less in the shoot.
The findings imply that indicate that SlPHO1;1 plays an important role in Pi transport in the tomato at the seedling stage.
Read the research article in Physiologia Plantarum for more information.
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