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Plant Physiology Preview. Published on May 8, 2017, as DOI:10.1104/pp.17.00506 1 Running head: 2 An R2R3-MYB gene regulates pungency in chili pepper 3 4 Corresponding author: 5 Neftalí Ochoa-Alejo Mailing address: Departamento de Ingeniería Genética de Plantas, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (Cinvestav-Unidad Irapuato). Km. 9.6 Libramiento Norte Carretera Irapuato-León; Apartado Postal 629; 36821-Irapuato, Gto., México. Phone: (+52) 462 623 9654 Fax: (+52) 462 624 5849 E-mail: [email protected] 6 7 8 9 10 An R2R3-MYB Transcription Factor in Capsaicinoid Biosynthesis Magda L. Arce-Rodríguez1 and Neftalí Ochoa-Alejo1, 2 11 12 Departamento de Ingeniería Genética de Plantas1, and Departamento de 13 Biotecnología y Bioquímica2, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del 14 Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Unidad Irapuato, Km 9.6 Libramiento Norte 15 Carretera Irapuato-León, 36821, Irapuato, Guanajuato, México. 16 17 One sentence summary: 1 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. Copyright 2017 by the American Society of Plant Biologists 18 CaMYB31, an R2R3-MYB transcription factor, regulates the capsaicinoid 19 biosynthetic pathway in chili pepper fruits, and is regulated by plant hormones, 20 wounding, temperature and light. 21 22 Financial source: 23 The National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt, Mexico) financially 24 supported this research, through the project 177063, and an MLA-R scholarship. 25 26 Corresponding author e-mail: [email protected] 27 28 The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings 29 presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions 30 for 31 ([email protected]). Authors (www.plantphysiol.org) is: Neftalí Ochoa-Alejo 32 33 Author´s contributions: 34 MLA-R. designed and carried out the experimental work, analyzed the data and 35 wrote the manuscript. N.O-A. designed, directed and supervised the experiments, 36 and complemented and corrected the article. 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 2 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 48 Capsaicinoids are responsible for the hot taste of chili peppers. They are restricted 49 to the genus Capsicum and are synthesized by the acylation of the aromatic 50 compound vanillylamine (derived from the phenylpropanoid pathway) with a 51 branched-chain fatty acid by the catalysis of the putative enzyme capsaicinoid 52 synthase. R2R3-MYB transcription factors have been reported in different species 53 of plants as regulators of structural genes of the phenylpropanoid pathway; 54 therefore, we hypothesized that MYB genes might be involved in the regulation of 55 the biosynthesis of pungent compounds. In this study, an R2R3-MYB transcription 56 factor gene, designated CaMYB31, was isolated and characterized in Capsicum 57 annuum L. cv. Tampiqueño 74. Bioinformatic analysis suggested that CaMYB31 58 could be involved in secondary metabolism, stress and plant hormone responses, 59 and development. CaMYB31 expression analysis from placental tissue of pungent 60 and non-pungent chili pepper fruits showed a correlation positive with the structural 61 genes Ca4H, Comt, Kas, pAmt and AT3 expression and also with the content of 62 capsaicin and dihydrocapsacin during fruit development. However, CaMYB31 was 63 also expressed in vegetative tissues (leaves, roots and stems). Moreover, 64 CaMYB31 65 biosynthetic genes and the capsaicinoid content. Additionally, CaMYB31 66 expression was affected by the plant hormones indoleacetic acid, jasmonic acid, 67 salicylic acid and gibberellic acid or by wounding, temperature and light, factors 68 known to affect the production of capsaicinoids. These findings indicate that 69 CaMYB31 is indeed involved in the regulation of structural genes of the 70 capsaicinoid biosynthetic pathway. silencing significantly reduced the expression 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 3 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. of capsaicinoid 79 INTRODUCTION 80 Chili peppers are members of the Capsicum genus, which belongs to the 81 Solanaceae family. Capsicum annuum is the most cultivated species in the world. 82 The importance of this crop is based on a great variety of industrial applications, 83 such as food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and agronomic uses (Ochoa-Alejo and 84 Ramírez-Malagón, 2001). One of the most valued compounds of chili pepper fruits 85 are the capsaicinoids, which are synthesized and accumulated in the placental 86 tissue through the convergence of phenylpropanoid and the branched-chain fatty 87 acid 88 dihydrocapsaicin are responsible for 90% of the pungency in the fruit, and their 89 accumulation depends on the genotype, stage of fruit development and 90 environmental conditions (Lindsey and Bosland, 1996; Kim et al., 2009; Arce- 91 Rodríguez and Ochoa-Alejo, 2015). pathways (Aza-González et al., 2011) (Fig. 1). Capsaicin and 92 Research on the capsaicinoid biosynthesis pathway has uncovered key 93 aspects of its biochemistry and molecular biology (Aza-González et al., 2011). The 94 generation of chili pepper cDNA libraries and comparative gene expression 95 analysis of pungent and non-pungent fruits has allowed the identification of several 96 structural genes of the capsaicinoid biosynthesis pathway, such as phenylalanine 97 ammonia-lyase (Pal), cinnamic acid 4-hydroxylase (Ca4H), 4-coumarate-CoA 98 ligase 99 methyltransferase (Comt), hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA hydratase/ligase (HCHL) and a 100 putative acyltransferase (AT3) proposed to be the possible capsaicinoid synthase 101 (CS) (Curry et al., 1999; Kim et al., 2001; Stewart et al., 2005; Mazourek et al., 102 2009; Liu et al, 2013). (4CL), hydroxycinnamoyl transferase (HCT), caffeic acid O- 103 The role of transcription factors in the capsaicinoid biosynthesis regulation is 104 underexplored. Stewart et al. (2005) reported a differential expression analysis of 105 two bZIP (Basic Leucine Zipper) transcription factors in pungent and non-pungent 106 fruits at different developmental stages, but their expression pattern did not 107 correlate positively with the expression of the structural genes Pal, Ca4H, Comt, 108 pAMT, BCAT, Kas, Acl, FatA and AT3. Recently, Keyhaninejad et al. (2014) 109 reported two ERF (Ethylene Response Factor) transcription factors whose 4 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 110 expression correlated positively with the pungency level in nine chili pepper 111 cultivars and they were proposed as possible regulators of capsaicinoid 112 biosynthesis. 113 Previous studies have shown that the phenylpropanoid pathway is regulated 114 by R2R3-MYB transcription factors in different plant species such as Arabidopsis 115 thaliana, Antirrhinum majus, and Pinus taeda (Tamagnone et al., 1998; Patzlaff et 116 al., 2003; Zhou et al., 2009). R2R3-MYB transcription factors represent one of the 117 largest family in plants and regulate different biological processes such as primary 118 and 119 developmental processes, and hormonal responses (Dubos et al., 2010; Ambawat 120 et al., 2013; Liu et al., 2015). Since the phenylpropanoid pathway is involved in the 121 biosynthesis of precursors of capsaicinoid biosynthetic pathway, we hypothesized 122 that the R2R3-MYB family transcription factors participate in the biosynthesis of 123 capsaicinoids. Here, we report on the isolation of a CaMYB31 cDNA, which 124 encodes a putative R2R3-MYB protein, and its role in the regulation of capsaicinoid 125 biosynthetic genes and in the accumulation of capsaicinoids in chili pepper fruits. 126 Furthermore, we characterized CaMYB31 regarding its gene organization, 127 phylogeny, function and its responses to hormones, light, temperature and 128 wounding. secondary metabolism, responses to biotic and abiotic stresses, 129 130 RESULTS 131 132 Identification of CaMYB31 by Differential Gene Expression in Placental 133 Tissue from Pungent and Non-Pungent Fruits 134 135 The accumulation of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin in placental tissue of 136 chili pepper fruits of C. annuum cv. Tampiqueño 74 (pungent) and cv. California 137 Wonder (non-pungent) during fruit development is presented in Table I. Capsaicin 138 content was twice as high as dihydrocapsaicin in ‘Tampiqueño 74’ fruits, but these 139 two capsaicinoids were not detected in California Wonder. In ‘Tampiqueño 74’, 5 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 140 capsaicinoids were not recorded at 10 days post-anthesis (DPA), began 141 accumulating at 20 DPA, peaked at 30-40 DPA, and decreased at 50-60 DPA. 142 The expression of Ca4H, Comt, pAmt, AT3 and Kas genes was positively 143 correlated with capsaicinoid accumulation in ‘Tampiqueño 74’ placental tissue. The 144 expression of pAmt, Kas, AT3 and Comt was very low or even undetectable at 10 145 DPA, increased to a maximum between 30 and 40 DPA, decreased at 50 DPA, 146 and was very low or undetectable at 60 DPA. Ca4H was expressed moderately at 147 10 DPA, increased to a maximum between 20 and 40 DPA, and then diminished 148 slightly between 50 and 60 DPA. In California Wonder, the expression of AT3 was 149 undetectable at all stages of fruit development, while that of Kas and pAmt was 150 very low at 30-50 DPA. However, Comt and Ca4H were expressed at all stages of 151 the non-pungent fruits (Fig. 2). 152 Partial MYB sequences were identified from a cDNA library of C. annuum 153 cv. Tampiqueño 74. Only sequences that showed >40% homology and that 154 expressed in pungent placental tissue were selected for qRT-PCR analysis (see 155 Supplemental Figure 1). CaMYB31 showed a clear expression pattern that 156 correlated positively with both the expression levels of the capsaicinoid 157 biosynthetic 158 development (Fig. 2). structural genes and with capsaicinoid content during fruit 159 160 CaMYB31 Structure and Phylogenetic Sequence Analyses 161 162 CaMYB31 contains a 747 bp reading frame encoding a putative R2R3-MYB 163 protein of 249 amino acids that is preceded by a 5’ UTR of 148 bp and followed by 164 a 3’ UTR of 189 bp. CaMYB31 cDNA sequence was compared to the chili pepper 165 genome database (Qin et al., 2014) and three exons of 133, 130 and 484 bp, and 166 two introns were identified. The first intron of 724 bp was localized between aa 44 167 and 45 of the R2 domain, and the second one of 425 bp was between aa 88 and 168 89 of the R3 domain (Fig. 3A). 169 A phylogenetic tree of 167 plant MYB proteins was constructed using the 170 neighbor joining method, based on alignment of the MYB domain, with a bootstrap 6 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 171 test (n = 1000) (Fig. 3B). The full-length amino acid sequence of CaMYB31 was 172 used to look for MYB proteins from RefSeq and Swiss-Prot NCBI protein database, 173 and the MYB Arabidopsis proteins were also included (See Supplemental Table II). 174 The phylogenetic analysis was congruent with the subgroups defined for 175 Arabidopsis MYB proteins (Kranz 1998; Stracke et al., 2001). 176 According to our phylogenetic tree, CaMYB31 belongs to a cluster of MYB 177 Solanaceae proteins with no assigned biological functions at this time 178 (XP_016580728.1 with 98% identity to XP_015081732.1 with 67% identity) (Fig. 179 3B). The nearest neighbor clade to CaMYB31 was the subgroup 14 of Arabidopsis 180 thaliana proteins (AtMYB36 with 63% identity to AtMYB68 with 46% identity), which 181 are mainly related to development, while some of them are implicated in hormone 182 response, stress response and in the regulation of the lignin biosynthesis (Fig. 3B). 183 We also constructed the phylogenetic tree using the IT3F software online (Bailey et 184 al., 2008) (see Supplemental Fig. 2) and the results were consistent with our 185 phylogenetic analysis. 186 CaMYB31 alignment with other MYB plant regulatory proteins showed a 187 highly conserved R2R3 MYB domain in the N-terminal region, and a highly variable 188 C-terminal region (see Supplemental Fig. 3A). As a complement to the 189 phylogenetic analysis, we analyzed the C-terminal region of CaMYB31 by 190 comparison with the nearest neighbor clade to search for conserved motifs using 191 MEME motif-detection software, thinking that such motif might be important for the 192 function of CaMYB31. The C-terminal region of CaMYB31 share one motif with 193 these proteins related to development (see Supplemental Fig. 3B). Moreover, 194 PlantPAN 2.0 (Chow et al., 2016) was used as a database for signal scanning of 195 MYB binding sites in the putative promoter sequences of the structural 196 capsaicinoid genes, and we found MYB cis-elements on all predictive promoters of 197 the capsaicinoid structural genes (see Supplemental Fig. 4). 198 199 Differential CaMYB31 Expression Analyses in Different Organ Tissues of 200 Capsicum spp. 201 7 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 202 The expression of CaMYB31 and that of the structural genes Kas, pAmt, 203 Comt and Ca4H were analyzed by qRT-PCR in different tissues of the fruit (seeds, 204 pericarp and placenta) and plant (roots, stems, flowers and leaves) from pungent 205 and non-pungent cultivars. Kas and pAmt genes expression was detected 206 exclusively in placental tissue (Fig. 4), although transcript levels were much higher 207 in placental tissue from the immature fruits of Habanero than from ‘Tampiqueño 208 74’, which correlated with the pungency level, whereas Comt and Ca4H were also 209 expressed in seeds, pericarp and vegetative tissues (Fig 4). 210 CaMYB31 showed the highest expression in placental tissue of Habanero 211 immature fruits, which are considered highly hot (Fig. 4). Moreover, the 212 characteristic expression pattern of CaMYB31 during the development of 213 ‘Tampiqueño 74’ fruits was confirmed. The CaMYB31 expression observed in 214 placental tissue of California Wonder fruits was much lower. CaMYB31 presented 215 very low expression in the seeds and pericarp. 216 In the case of vegetative tissues, CaMYB31 expressed at very low levels in 217 flower tissues of ‘Tampiqueño 74’ and was undetectable in flowers of California 218 Wonder (Fig. 4). However, CaMYB31 was expressed moderately in roots and 219 highly in leaf and stem tissues when compared to the placenta of ‘Tampiqueño 74’ 220 chili pepper fruits. 221 222 Effect of CaMYB31 Silencing on the Expression of Capsaicinoid Biosynthetic 223 Genes and on Capsaicinoid Content 224 225 CaMYB31 silencing experiments were carried out using a Tobacco rattle 226 virus (TRV)-derived vector to generate the construct pTRV2-CaMYB31, which 227 contained a 234 bp region from 90 aa of the R3 domain towards the C-terminal 228 region (Fig. 3A). Fruits of 40 DPA were collected to investigate the effect of 229 CaMYB31 silencing. 230 Fruits from plants infected with the pTRV2-CaMYB31 construct exhibited a 231 significant diminution of the CaMYB31 gene expression (82%) compared to 232 uninfected plants (Fig. 5A). CaMYB31 silencing caused a significant reduction in 8 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 233 the expression of the capsaicinoid biosynthetic genes Ca4H (81.8%), 4CL (80.6%), 234 C3H (76.4%), HCT (49%), Comt (42.7%), pAmt (71%), BCAT (88.6%), BCKDH 235 (48.5%), Kas (70%) and Acl (30.3%), compared to fruits from uninfected plants 236 (Fig. 5A). It has been previously shown that agroinfection with the empty pTRV2 237 vector did not cause statistically significant changes in the expression patterns of 238 tested structural genes in chili pepper fruits (Arce-Rodríguez and Ochoa-Alejo, 239 2015). 240 Capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin contents in fruits of plants agroinfected with 241 pTRV2-CaMYB31 showed a significant reduction of 74.2 and 73%, respectively, 242 compared with fruits from uninfected plants (Fig. 5B). Fruits from plants 243 agroinfected with the empty pTRV2 vector exhibited capsaicin content statistically 244 similar to that of uninfected plants; however, dihydrocapsaicin content was 245 significantly higher. Therefore, fruits from plants agroinfected with pTRV2- 246 CaMYB31 had an 82.4% decrease in capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin compared to 247 fruits from plants infected with the empty pTRV2 vector (Fig. 5B). 248 249 Effect of Plant Hormones, Light, Temperature and Wounding on the 250 Expression of CaMYB31 and Capsaicinoid Biosynthesis Structural Marker 251 Genes 252 253 Environmental stimuli and some plant hormones affect capsaicinoid 254 accumulation in chili pepper fruits (Kim et al., 2009; Gutiérrez-Carbajal et al., 255 2010). In order to test whether these factors regulate the CaMYB31 expression, 256 several physical stimuli and plant hormones were applied to 30 DPA fruits of 257 Serrano ‘Tampiqueño 74’. The expression of CaMYB31 and the capsaicinoid 258 biosynthetic gene markers Kas and pAmt were analyzed in placental tissue by 259 qRT-PCR. 260 Fruits were treated with light or dark conditions with varying exposure time, 261 and the transcript levels were examined. Dark exposure caused a significant 262 diminution on CaMYB31 expression similar to the expression pattern for Kas and 263 pAmt (Fig. 6). Temperature was another tested stimulus; we monitored gene 9 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 264 expression at high temperature (37°C), low temperature (4°C) and standard growth 265 temperature (25°C) at different exposure times. CaMYB31, Kas and pAmt 266 expression at 37°C was significantly lower, while that in fruits at 4°C was higher 267 compared to standard growth conditions (Fig. 7). The expression of CaMYB31, 268 Kas and pAmt in wounded fruits had a significant decrease when compared to non- 269 wounded fruits (Fig. 8). 270 In addition, the transcript levels of CaMYB31 in fruits treated with 100 µM of 271 jasmonic acid (JA), salicylic acid (SA), gibberellic acid (GA3) or indoleacetic acid 272 (IAA) compared to control fruits (treated with MS) were determined. CaMYB31, 273 Kas and pAmt expression increased significantly by IAA, SA and GA3 treatment, 274 whereas a significant diminution by JA treatment was detected, except at 3 h of 275 exposure (Fig. 9). The effect of these treatments was dependent on the time of 276 exposure. In general, CaMYB31 expression correlated with the expression of Kas 277 and pAmt under exposure to different environmental stimulus. 278 279 DISCUSSION 280 281 The generation of chili pepper cDNA libraries and comparative gene 282 expression analysis of pungent (Serrano cv. Tampiqueño 74) and non-pungent 283 fruits (Bell pepper cv. California Wonder) allowed us to identify CaMYB31, an 284 R2R3-MYB transcription factor gene, as a strong candidate to regulate the 285 capsaicinoid pathway. 286 In previous studies, the positive correlation between the expression pattern 287 of structural genes (Pal, Ca4H, Comt, Acl, Fat, Kas and AT3) of the capsaicinoid 288 biosynthetic pathway and the level of pungency of chili pepper fruits has been 289 reported (Curry et al., 1999; Aluru et al., 2003, Arce-Rodríguez and Ochoa-Alejo, 290 2015). It has been shown that capsaicinoid accumulation is dependent on the 291 developmental stage of chili pepper fruits, and this synthesis and accumulation is 292 highly likely to be regulated and coordinated at the transcriptional level. 293 10 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 294 Capsaicinoid Content and Expression of Genes Involved in the Capsaicinoid 295 Pathway in Chili Pepper Fruits 296 297 A positive correlation was observed between the expression pattern of the 298 structural genes Kas, pAmt and AT3 and the pungency level during the 299 development of Serrano and Bell pepper fruits, indicating that these are specific 300 genes of the capsaicinoid pathway. On the other hand, Comt and Ca4H genes 301 were also expressed in non-pungent fruit and in vegetative tissues, suggesting that 302 they participate in other biological process, such as lignin biosynthesis (Humphreys 303 and Chapple, 2002). CaMYB31 showed an expression pattern similar to that of the 304 Kas, pAmt and AT3 genes in the placental tissue of fruits that correlated with 305 pungency, which strongly suggested it as a candidate to regulate the structural 306 genes of the capsaicinoid pathway. However, CaMYB31 was also expressed in 307 vegetative tissues such as roots, leaves and stems, indicating a possible role in 308 more than one biological process, such as lignin biosynthesis or other metabolites 309 derived from the phenylpropanoid pathway. 310 311 Bioinformatic Analysis of CaMYB31 312 313 Bioinformatic analysis of R2R3-MYB proteins showed that the putative 314 CaMYB31 protein was closer to unknown function proteins of chili pepper, tomato, 315 potato and tobacco. Moreover, the subgroup 14 of MYB Arabidopsis proteins was 316 the nearest clade to CaMYB31, which shared one motif in the C-terminal region, 317 and therefore might have some similar functions (lignin biosynthesis, stress and 318 plant hormone response or development). The lignin and capsaicinoid biosynthetic 319 pathways have common steps at the early stages of the phenylpropanoid 320 biosynthesis, suggesting that CaMYB31 is probably implicated in the early 321 regulation of the capsaicinoid pathway. Additionally, we found putative MYB 322 binding sites on all the predicted promoters of the structural genes of the 323 capsaicinoid pathway, suggesting that they are potential target genes of 324 CaMYB31. 11 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 325 326 Effect of 327 Biosynthesis-Related Genes and Capsaicinoid Content CaMYB31 Silencing on the Expression of Capsaicinoid 328 329 Virus induced gene silencing (VIGS) was used to investigate the function of 330 CaMYB31 in the capsaicinoid pathway. CaMYB31 silencing caused a significant 331 decrease in capsaicinoid accumulation and on the expression of all structural 332 genes of the phenylpropanoid pathway, except that of Pal, and also on the early 333 genes of the branched-chain fatty acids pathway (BCAT, BCKDH, Kas and Acl) of 334 capsaicinoid biosynthesis, showing strong evidence of its participation in the 335 regulation of this metabolic process. Based on these results, we propose that the 336 structural genes that showed a significant decrease in expression when CaMYB31 337 was silenced are potential target genes of CaMYB31. Future studies of CaMYB31 338 interaction with promoters of the structural genes whose expression was affected 339 should provide more evidence on the direct transcriptional effect. 340 341 Effect of Hormones, Light, Temperature and Wounding on CaMYB31 342 Expression 343 344 The biosynthesis and accumulation of capsaicinoids in chili pepper fruits is 345 sensitive to environmental factors such as temperature and light, by stress 346 conditions (wounding, drought), and also by plant hormones (Lindsey and Bosland, 347 1996; Suresh et al., 2005; Kim et al., 2009; Gutiérrez-Carbajal et al., 2010). For 348 this reason, we analyzed the effect of plant hormones and stress on CaMYB31 349 expression and two of the possible target genes: Kas and pAmt. 350 In previous studies, it was reported that SA induced the production of 351 capsaicinoids and intermediary compounds (Gutierrez-Carbajal et al., 2010; 352 Altuzar-Molina et al., 2011; Rodas-Junco et al., 2013), while JA induced or 353 repressed the accumulation of capsaicinoids and intermediary metabolites 354 depending on the concentration and exposure time (Suresh et al., 2005; Gutierrez- 355 Carbajal et al., 2010; Altuzar-Molina et al., 2011). CaMYB31, Kas and pAmt 12 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 356 expression was significantly increased with SA treatment, while JA treatment 357 caused a significant decrease in its expression, except at 3 h of exposure. In 358 general, a typical antagonistic effect between SA and JA treatment was revealed, 359 similar to that observed in genes related to defense against pathogens. 360 Wounding stress has been reported to promote the formation of JA while 361 repressing SA production (Lee et al., 2004). A significant decrease in CaMYB31, 362 Kas and pAmt expression in wounded chili pepper fruits was consistently observed 363 with JA treatment, except at 3 h. 364 Other hormones, such as gibberellic acid and auxin, interact with the SA and 365 JA pathways, increasing the complexity of the signaling pathway in the mechanism 366 of defense in plants (Robert-Seilaniantz et al., 2011; Pieterse et al., 2012). 367 CaMYB31, Kas and pAmt expression was significantly incremented under IAA and 368 GA3 treatment. It has been reported that gibberellins suppress JA signaling and 369 induce SA signaling (Pieterse et al., 2012), consistent with our results. Conversely, 370 it has been reported that the auxin response was antagonistic to the SA response 371 (Pieterse et al., 2012); however, we did not observe an antagonistic effect on the 372 expression of CaMYB31, Kas and pAmt. The concentration of the plant hormone 373 and exposure time highly influence gene expression. 374 Temperature is another factor that affects positively or negatively the level of 375 pungency in chili pepper fruits and the expression of capsaicinoid structural genes 376 (Rahman and Inden, 2012; Kim et al., 2009; González-Zamora et al., 2013). The 377 expression of CaMYB31, Kas and pAmt was significantly increased at 4°C and was 378 reduced at 37°C compared to 25°C; thus, Serrano ‘Tampiqueño 74’ perhaps is a 379 variety in which the accumulation of capsaicinoids is negatively affected by high 380 temperature. 381 Light intensity has been found to exert a significant effect on capsaicinoid 382 content in chili pepper fruits (Iwai et al., 1979; Gangadhar et al., 2012). Kim et al. 383 (2009) reported that the enzymatic activity of AT3 was induced by exposure to light 384 and repressed in the dark. Similarly, the expression of CaMYB31, Kas and pAmt 385 was significantly higher under light compared to dark conditions in the present 386 investigation. 13 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 387 388 CONCLUSION 389 390 Our work showed strong evidence of the involvement of a MYB transcription factor 391 in the regulation of capsaicinoid biosynthesis and its stress response in chili pepper 392 fruits. Future studies are necessary to investigate whether CaMYB31 acts directly 393 on the promoter of structural genes of the capsaicinoid pathway or through the 394 formation of a protein complex with other transcription factors. 395 396 MATERIALS AND METHODS 397 398 Plant Growth Conditions 399 Chili pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) cv. Tampiqueño 74 (Serrano type) and 400 cv. California Wonder plants were grown in greenhouse conditions and fertilized 401 every two weeks with FerviaFol (Agroquímicos Rivas) solution (N:P:K 30:20:10). 402 Chili pepper fruits were harvested at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 days post-anthesis 403 (DPA) from at least six plants. Only placental tissue was collected and was 404 immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen, stored at -80°C and used for qRT-PCR 405 expression analysis to select MYB gene candidates. 406 Capsicum annuum L. cv. Tampiqueño 74, cv. California Wonder and 407 Capsicum chinense Habanero BG-3821 plants were grown for differential 408 expression analysis in different organs. Chili pepper fruits were harvested at 10, 409 20, 40 and 60 DPA from Capsicum annuum and immature and mature stages from 410 Capsicum chinense were dissected to separate the seeds, placenta and pericarp, 411 which were stored separately. Roots, leaves, stem and flowers of adult plants from 412 the different genotypes of C. annuum were collected. All tissues were frozen and 413 stored at -80°C. 414 Seeds of cv. Tampiqueño 74 were germinated in a growth chamber at a 415 temperature of 28°C under a 16 h photoperiod, a photon flux of 70 µmol m-2 s-1 416 (T8W/starcoat GE fluorescent lamps) and a relative humidity of 66% for silencing 417 experiments. Three-week-old chili pepper seedlings were agroinfected and after 6 14 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 418 weeks were transferred to greenhouse conditions until 40 DPA chili pepper fruits 419 were collected for each treatment. 420 Seeds of Capsicum annuum L. cv. Tampiqueño 74 were germinated and 421 grown in a greenhouse for the studies of environment stimuli in entire fruits. 422 Placental tissue was collected from 30 DPA chili pepper fruits for each treatment. 423 424 Identification and Isolation of CaMYB31 Gene 425 426 We selected 24 MYB partial sequences from a cDNA library of Capsicum 427 annuum L. cv. Tampiqueño 74 with more than 40% identity to MYB proteins (see 428 Supplemental Table I). The expression of these MYB genes was analyzed by qRT- 429 PCR, comparatively with the expression of the capsaicinoid biosynthetic genes 430 AT3, Kas, pAmt, Ca4H and Comt in placental tissue of fruits at different 431 developmental stages (10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 DPA) of C. annuum L. cv. 432 Tampiqueño 74 (pungent) and cv. California Wonder (non-pungent). Moreover, the 433 levels of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin were quantified at the same stages of 434 development in pungent and non-pungent fruits. CaMYB31 gene was selected as 435 candidate based on the positive correlation of its expression pattern with 436 capsaicinoid content and the expression levels of the structural genes. 437 The full-length CaMYB31 gene was predicted using GeneScan web server 438 from the pepper genome (Quin et al., 2014) and primers were designed (forward: 439 5’-TACACGTGATGGTGAGAACAACACCTTGCT-3´ 440 CGCACGTGTTAATAATTAAAATGATCAAA-3’) for amplification by RT-PCR from 441 placental tissue of 40 DPA chili pepper fruits of cv. Tampiqueño 74. The PCR 442 conditions for amplification were 94°C for 3 min, followed by 30 cycles (94°C for 30 443 s; 57.5°C for 30 s; 72°C for 1 min), and 72°C for 7 min. The PCR product was 444 diluted (1 µL of PCR product with 19 µL of sterile water) and used as template for a 445 second PCR under the same conditions. PCR product was cloned into the pCR 8 446 vector (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer’s instructions and sequenced. and 447 448 Phylogenetic and Sequence Analysis 15 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. reverse: 5’- 449 450 BLASTp was used to search MYB protein sequences from RefSeq_protein 451 and Swiss-Prot NCBI database using the full-length amino acid sequence of 452 CaMYB31. The characterized Solanaceae proteins (SlMYB12, SlBLIND, CaBLIND, 453 CaMYB, CaMYB1, CaA and CaMYB3) and all the Arabidopsis thaliana MYB 454 proteins reported in Stracke et al., (2001) and in the IT3F Website (Bailey et al., 455 2008) were also included (See Supplemental Table II). The sequences were 456 aligned with CLUSTAL W using default parameters, and it was manually adjusted. 457 Based on the MYB domain aligment, a phylogenetic tree was constructed with the 458 neighbor joining method, model JTT+G, and a bootstrap test (1000 replicates) 459 using MEGA 6 software. In addition, we constructed a phylogenetic tree using the 460 IT3F Website with CaMYB31 and the MYB proteins of Arabidopsis thaliana. The 461 clades were grouped as previously reported (Kranz et al., 1998; Stracke et al., 462 2001). MEME (Multiple Em for Motif Elicitation) version 4.11.3 (http://meme- 463 suite.org/tools/meme) was used to discover putative motifs in the C-terminal region 464 of CaMYB31. PlantPAN 2.0 (Chow et al., 2016) was used to search MYB binding 465 sites in the predictive promoters of the structural genes of the capsaicinoid 466 biosynthesis pathway. 467 468 Virus-induced gene silencing of CaMYB31 gene 469 470 A 234 bp fragment of CaMYB31 was amplified (bases 269 to 503) using the 471 primers forward 5´-AGTCTAGATCCTTTGGTGACCATTCTGA-3’ and reverse 5´- 472 AGTCTAGAGGCGATTGCTGCTCACTT-3’. Amplification conditions were 94°C for 473 5 min, followed by 30 cycles (94°C for 30 s; 55°C for 30 s; 72°C for 1 min) and 474 extension at 72°C for 7 min. The CaMYB31-viral silencing plasmid construction 475 and agroinfiltration was carried out as reported for tomato (Liu et al., 2002), with 476 some modifications (Arce-Rodríguez and Ochoa Alejo, 2015). 477 478 Quantification of Capsaicinoids 479 16 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 480 Capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin were quantified in placental tissue from C. 481 annuum cv. Tampiqueño 74 (pungent) and cv. Bell pepper California Wonder (non- 482 pungent) chili pepper fruits in three biological samples composed of 10 placentas 483 each in the case of 10 DPA fruits, and 3 placentas for the 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 484 DPA fruits. The extraction and quantification of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin was 485 carried out as reported by Arce-Rodríguez and Ochoa-Alejo (2015). 486 487 Plant Hormones, Light, Temperature and Wounding Chili Pepper Fruit 488 Treatments 489 490 Chili pepper fruits of C. annuum cv. Tampiqueño 74 at 30 DPA were 491 collected to evaluate the effect of different factors on the expression of CaMYB31 492 and the capsaicinoid biosynthetic genes Kas and pAmt for 3, 6, 12 and 16 h. For 493 light/dark response assays, complete fruits were first wrapped with plastic film and 494 foil for 24 h and then were uncovered and exposed to fluorescent light conditions 495 (50 µM m-2 s-1). For temperature treatments, entire fruits were wrapped with plastic 496 film and foil and incubated at 4°C, 25°C and 37°C. For the wounding responses 497 experiment, a scalpel blade was introduced approximately 6 mm deep several 498 times into whole fruits, which were then covered with plastic film and incubated at 499 25°C under standard light conditions. To apply plant hormone treatments, placental 500 tissue was separated from 30 DPA fruits and submerged into MS (Murashige and 501 Skoog 1962) liquid medium containing 0 or either 100 µM jasmonic acid, salicylic 502 acid, gibberellic acid or indoleacetic acid (SIGMA) and incubated at 25°C under 503 standard light conditions. After incubation, the placental tissues from all treatments 504 were immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80°C for gene expression 505 analysis. 506 507 Total RNA Extraction and cDNA Synthesis 508 509 Total RNA was extracted from placenta, pericarp, seeds, flowers, stems, 510 leaves and roots with Trizol (Invitrogen) according to the protocol provided by the 17 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 511 manufacturer. The extraction was performed in triplicate for each sample. RNA 512 was purified with the PureLinkTM Micro-To-Midi kit (Invitrogen) according to the 513 instructions. cDNA was synthesized from purified RNA with the Super Script II or 514 Super Script III reverse transcriptase (Invitrogen) following the protocol provided by 515 the manufacturer. 516 517 Real-Time Quantitative PCR Assays 518 519 Total RNA was extracted, purified and treated with DNAse I (Invitrogen) 520 following the manufacturer’s instructions. cDNA was synthesized with Super Script 521 III reverse transcriptase (Invitrogen) and adjusted to 100 ng mL-1. qRT-PCR was 522 performed as reported by Arce-Rodríguez and Ochoa-Alejo (2015) using the 523 primer pairs described in Supplemental Table III. 524 525 Statistical Analysis 526 The data generated in silencing experiments and the effect of different 527 factors on the expression of CaMYB31 were subjected to Analysis of Variance 528 (ANOVA) with the Tukey test (P ≤ 0.05) to find statistically significant differences 529 between the mean values. 530 531 532 The coding sequence of CaMYB31 can be found in GenBank under accession number XXX. 533 534 Supplemental Data 535 Supplemental Table I. Sequences from the cDNA library of Capsicum annuum L. 536 cv. Tampiqueño 74 (Serrano type) for qRT-PCR analysis. 537 Supplemental Table II. Accession numbers of MYB proteins listed in Figure 3. 538 Supplemental Table III. Primers used for qRT-PCR analysis. 539 Supplemental Figure 1. qRT-PCR expression assays of the putative MYB 540 transcription factor genes in placental tissue from chili pepper fruits of Capsicum 541 annuum cv. 18 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 542 Supplemental Figure 2. Phylogenetic relationship of CaMYB31 with MYB 543 transcription factors of Arabidopsis thaliana. 544 Supplemental Figure 3. Alignment of amino acid sequences of CaMYB31 with 545 others plant R2R3-MYB proteins. 546 Supplemental Figure 4. Schematic diagram of the putative MYB binding sites 547 localization in the predicted promoter of capsaicinoid structural genes. 548 Supplemental Table I. Sequences from the cDNA library of Capsicum annuum L. 549 cv. Tampiqueño 74 (Serrano type) for qRT-PCR analysis. 550 Supplemental Table II. Accession numbers of MYB proteins listed in Figure 3. 551 Supplemental Table III. Primers used for qRT-PCR analysis. 552 553 Supplemental Figure 1. qRT-PCR expression assays of the putative MYB 554 transcription factor genes in placental tissue from chili pepper fruits of Capsicum 555 annuum cv. Tampiqueño 74 and cv. California Wonder at different developmental 556 stages. The data points represent the means of three biological replicates ± SD. 557 558 Supplemental Figure 2. Phylogenetic relationship of CaMYB31 with MYB 559 transcription factors of Arabidopsis thaliana. Phylogenetic tree was constructed 560 online using the IT3F website. The clades were grouped as previously reported for 561 Arabidopsis thaliana (Kranz et al., 1998; Stracke et al., 2001) (highlighted with 562 colored diamonds for each subgroup). The nearest neighbor clade to CaMYB31 563 (highlighted with blue letters) was the subgroup 14. Accession numbers for all 564 protein sequences are listed in Supplemental Table II. 565 566 Supplemental Figure 3. Alignment of amino acid sequences of CaMYB31 with 567 others plant R2R3-MYB proteins. A, Comparison of R2R3-MYB proteins. 568 CaMYB31 (XXX), AtMYB36 (AT5G57620), AtMYB37 (AT5G23000), AtMYB35 569 (AT3G28470), AtMYB80 (AT5G56110) OsMYB4 (Q7XBH4), CaBLIND (F5C7S0), 570 and SlMYB12 (B4YAJ8). Dark gray indicates identical amino acids and gray shows 571 similar amino acids. Lines above the sequence highlight the R2 and R3 domains. 572 B, Schematic diagram of the comparison of CaMYB31 with proteins of the nearest 19 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 573 clade in the phylogenetic tree showing the putative motifs. Each box indicates a 574 putative motif, and specifically the red box indicates the motif that CaMYB31 575 shared with these proteins. 576 577 Supplemental Figure 4. Schematic diagram of the putative MYB binding sites 578 localization in the predicted promoter of capsaicinoid structural genes. The 579 horizontal black line indicates the length of promoter sequence from ATG codon to 580 -1500 pb. The vertical red lines indicate the putative TATA box, and the vertical 581 green and black lines indicate the putative MYB binding sites TAACAAA and 582 [AG]GATT, respectively; and the orientation towards up or down indicates the 583 position in the positive or negative strand, respectively. 584 585 586 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 587 We thank Yolanda Rodríguez for technical assistance in the HPLC analysis; 588 Dr. Cesar Aza-González, Dr. María del Rocío Gomez-García, and José Luis Pablo- 589 Rodríguez for technical assistance in the agroinfiltration experiments; and Dr. Luis 590 Delaye, Dr. Octavio Martínez de la Vega and Magdalena Rivera for their important 591 insights in bioinformatic analysis. 592 593 Figure legends: 594 595 Figure 1. Capsaicinoid biosynthetic pathway. PAL, phenylalanine ammonia lyase; 596 Ca4H, 597 hydroxycinnamoyl transferase; C3H, coumaroyl shikimate/quinate 3-hydroxylase; 598 COMT, caffeic acid O-methyltransferase; pAMT, aminotransferase; BCAT, 599 branched-chain amino acid transferase; KAS, ketoacyl-ACP synthase; ACL, acyl- 600 CoA synthetase; FAT, acyl-ACP thiosterase; CS, capsaicinoid synthase; AT3, 601 acyltransferase. The potential target genes of CaMYB31 transcription factor are 602 marked in red. cinnamate 4-hydroxylase; 4CL, 4-coumaroyl-CoA 603 20 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. ligase; HCT, 604 Figure 2. qRT-PCR expression assays of the capsaicinoid biosynthetic genes Kas, 605 pAmt, AT3, Comt and Ca4H and CaMYB31 in placental tissue from chili pepper 606 fruits of Capsicum annuum cv. Tampiqueño 74 and cv. California Wonder at 607 different developmental stages. The data points represent the means of three 608 biological replicates ± SD. 609 610 Figure 3. Structural organization of the CaMYB31 gene and phylogenetic 611 relationship of CaMYB31 with other plant MYB transcription factors. A, Schematic 612 diagram of CaMYB31 showing the coding regions (black boxes), 5’ and 3’ UTR 613 regions (gray boxes), introns (solid lines), R2R3-MYB domains (dotted lines), and 614 the fragment sequence of CaMYB31 used for VIGS. B, Phylogenetic tree was 615 constructed using the neighbor joining method based on the MYB domain 616 alignment using MEGA 6 software. The bootstrap values are shown as 617 percentages (1000 replicates) when greater than 50%. The clades were grouped 618 as previously reported for Arabidopsis thaliana (Stracke et al., 2001) (highlighted 619 with colored diamonds for each subgroup), while CaMYB31 (highlighted with blue 620 letters) grouped with solanaceous sequences (marked with red circles). Accession 621 numbers for all protein sequences are listed in Supplemental Table II. 622 623 Figure 4. Differential expression assays of CaMYB31 and of the capsaicinoid 624 biosynthetic genes pAmt, Kas, Comt and Ca4H in different tissues of Capsicum 625 annuum cv. Tampiqueño 74 and cv. California Wonder, and in fruits of Capsicum 626 chinense Habanero BG-3821. M, mature; I, immature; Pe, pericarp; Se, seed; Pl, 627 placenta; Fl, flower; Le, leaf; St, stem; Ro, root. The data points are the means of 628 three biological replicates ± SD. 629 630 Figure 5. Effect of CaMYB31 gene silencing on biosynthetic structural gene 631 expression and on capsaicinoid content in fruits of chili pepper. A, qRT-PCR 632 analysis of capsaicinoid biosynthetic genes and CaMYB31 in fruits of chili pepper 633 plants infected with the viral construct pTRV2-CaMYB31 compared to the 634 uninfected control plants. B, HPLC analysis of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin in 21 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 635 fruits of uninfected plants and pTRV2 and pTRV2-CaMYB31 infected plants. The 636 data points are the means of three biological replicates ± SD. Asterisks indicate 637 significant differences between the control (uninfected) and infected plants (P ≤ 638 0.05; Tukey test). 639 640 Figure 6. Effect of light on CaMYB31, Kas and pAmt expression in placental tissue 641 from chili pepper fruits at 30 DPA. Gene expression was measured at different 642 incubation times (3, 6, 12 and 16 h). The data points are the means of three 643 biological replicates ± SD. Asterisks show significant differences between fruits 644 incubated under dark and light conditions (P ≤ 0.05; Tukey test). 645 646 Figure 7. Effect of temperature on CaMYB31, Kas and pAmt expression in 647 placental tissue from chili pepper fruits at 30 DPA. Gene expression was quantified 648 at different incubation times (3, 6, 12 and 16 h) and different temperatures (4, 25 649 and 37°C). The data points are the means of three biological replicates ± SD. 650 Asterisks show significant differences between fruits incubated at standard 651 temperature (25°C), and high temperature (37°C) or low temperature (4°C) (P ≤ 652 0.05; Tukey test). 653 654 Figure 8. Effect of wounding on CaMYB31, Kas and pAmt expression in placental 655 tissue from chili pepper fruits at 30 DPA. Gene expression was quantified at 656 different incubation times (3, 6, 12 and 16 h). The data points are the means of 657 three biological replicates ± SD. Asterisks show significant differences between 658 control (no injuries) and wounded fruits (P ≤ 0.05; Tukey test). 659 660 Figure 9. Effect of plant hormones on CaMYB31, Kas and pAmt expression in 661 placental tissue from chili pepper fruits at 30 DPA. Gene expression was quantified 662 at different incubation times (3, 6, 12 and 16 h) in fruits treated with 100 µM IAA 663 (A), GA3 (B), SA (C) or JA (D). The data points are the means of three biological 664 replicates ± SD. Asterisks show significant differences between control (MS 665 medium) and treated fruits (P ≤ 0.05; Tukey test). 22 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 Table I. Accumulation of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin in chili pepper fruits of C. annumm cv. Tampiqueño 74 and cv. California Wonder at different developmental stages Cultivar Stages of fruit Capsaicin Dihydrocapsaicin (mg g-1Lpt) (mg g-1Lpt) 10 N.D. N.D. 20 6.73 ± 0.55 3.43 ± 0.31 30 9.91 ± 1.42 5.44 ± 1.59 40 11.21 ± 1.19 5.85 ± 0.91 50 7.94 ± 0.61 4.98 ± 0.87 60 5.44 ± 0.46 3.93 ± 0.49 N.D. N.D. development (DPA, Days post-anthesis) ‘Tampiqueño 74’ ‘California Wonder’ 10 23 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. 20 N.D. N.D. 30 N.D. N.D. 40 N.D. N.D. 50 N.D. N.D. 60 N.D. N.D. 676 Separation and determination of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin was performed by 677 HPLC. Lpt, lyophilized placental tissue. Each value is the mean of six biological 678 replicates ± SD. N.D., Not detected. 679 680 681 LITERATURE CITED 682 683 Altúzar-Molina AR, Muñoz-Sánchez JA, Vázquez-Flota F, Monforte-González 684 M, Racagni-Di Palma G, Hernández-Sotomayor SMT (2011) Phospholipidic 685 signaling and vanillin production in response to salicylic acid and methyl jasmonate 686 in Capsicum chinense J. cells. 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Plant Cell 21: 248–266 799 800 801 802 803 804 28 Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. modulated Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. Downloaded from on June 15, 2017 - Published by www.plantphysiol.org Copyright © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. Parsed Citations Altúzar-Molina AR, Muñoz-Sánchez JA, Vázquez-Flota F, Monforte-González M, Racagni-Di Palma G, Hernández-Sotomayor SMT (2011) Phospholipidic signaling and vanillin production in response to salicylic acid and methyl jasmonate in Capsicum chinense J. cells. Plant Physiol Biochem 49: 151-158 Aluru MR, Mazourek M, Landry LG, Curry J, Jahn MM, O'Connell M (2003) Differential expression of fatty acid synthase genes, Acl, Fat and Kas, in Capsicum fruit. J Exp Bot 54: 1655-1664 Pubmed: Author and Title CrossRef: Author and Title Google Scholar: Author Only Title Only Author and Title Ambawat S, Sharma P, Yadav NR, Yadav RC (2013) MYB transcription factor genes as regulators for plant responses: an overview. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 19: 307-321 Pubmed: Author and Title CrossRef: Author and Title Google Scholar: Author Only Title Only Author and Title Arce-Rodríguez ML, Ochoa-Alejo N (2015) Silencing AT3 gene reduces the expression of pAmt, BCAT, Kas, and Acl genes involved in capsaicinoid biosynthesis in chili pepper fruits. Biol Plant 59: 477-484 Pubmed: Author and Title CrossRef: Author and Title Google Scholar: Author Only Title Only Author and Title Aza-González C, Núñez-Palenius HG, Ochoa-Alejo N (2011) Molecular biology of capsaicinoid biosynthesis in chili pepper (Capsicum spp.). Plant Cell Rep 30: 695-706 Pubmed: Author and Title CrossRef: Author and Title Google Scholar: Author Only Title Only Author and Title Bailey P, Dicks J, Wang T, Martin C (2008) IT3F: A web-based tool for functional analysis of transcription factors in plants. Phytochemistry 69: 2417-2425 Pubmed: Author and Title CrossRef: Author and Title Google Scholar: Author Only Title Only Author and Title Chow CN, Zheng HQ, Wu NY, Chien CH, Huang HD, Lee TY, Chiang-Hsieh YF, Hou PF, Yang TY, Chang WC (2016) PlantPAN 2.0: an update of plant promoter analysis navigator for reconstructing transcriptional regulatory networks in plants. 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