The B-BOX (BBX) proteins play important functions in regulating plant growth and development. In plants, the BBX gene family has been identified in several plants, such as rice, Arabidopsis, and tomato. However, there is still a need for a genome-wide study of BBX genes in pear (Pyrus bretschneideri).

The team of Yunpeng Cao from the Anhui Agricultural University in China identified and characterized 25 BBX genes in pear. The transcript analysis revealed that twelve PbBBX genes were specifically expressed only in pear pollen tubes. Further analysis also indicated that both PbBBX4 and PbBBX13 have potential roles in pear fruit development, while PbBBX5 in involved in the senescence of pear pollen tube.

This study provides a genome-wide study of the BBX gene family as well as their roles in both pear fruits and pollen tubes. These findings will be useful in studying the complexity of BBX gene family.

For more information, read the article in BMC Plant Biology.

Figure 7: Subcellular localization of PbBBX4-GFP, PbBBX5-GFP and PbBBX13-GFP fusion protein. a Schematic representation of the 35S: GFP, 35S: PbBBX4-GFP, 35S: PbBBX5-GFP and 35S: PbBBX13-GFP fusion constructs used for transient expression. b The three PbBBX-GFP fusion proteins (PbBBX4-GFP, PbBBX5-GFP, and PbBBX13-GFP) as well as GFP as the control, were transiently expressed in tobacco leaves and observed by fluorescence microscopy. Bars = 50 μm