Pistil abortion in Japanese apricot (Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc.): isolation and functional analysis of PmCCoAOMT gene

The abnormal pistils widely occur in Japanese apricot (Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc) and seriously affect the fruit production. In this study, a CCoAOMT homologue, PmCCoAOMT, was cloned in Japanese apricot and the bioinformatics software analyzed the structural characteristics. The PmCCoAOMT protein was detected to be located in the cell cytoplasm by onion transient expression experiment. Analysis of the real-time PCR data showed that PmCCoAOMT gene expressed in the prophase development of pistil and the expression level in 'Daqiandi' was higher than 'Longyan.' The expression level in 'Longyan' was higher than 'Daqiandi' in the late period development of pistil, and the expression level of perfect flower (perfect pistil) was higher than imperfect flower (pistil deformity and no pistil). Compared with the control, the over-expression of PmCCoAOMT transgenic tobacco lines showed bigger flowers, darker petals. The lignin monomer composition in transgenic tobacco lines was also measured, and the results showed that transgenic tobacco lines had a higher S (Syringyl)/G (Guaiacyl) ratio (22.3 %) than control lines (11.8 %). Also, the perfect flower buds contained more S/G ratio (92.62 %) than imperfect flower buds (83.55 %) in 'Daqiandi.' Our results indicated that the PmCCoAOMT gene might have function in lignin accumulation, which contributed to pistil development in Japanese apricot.