Ethylene signaling transcription factor promote grape growth induced by exogenous carbon

Background The carbon can be converted into sugar which is not only important for plant growth and development, but also for plant signal transduction, especially in plant hormone response. The objective of this work was to build available genomic and proteomic resource to investigate the molecular mechanisms of exogenous carbon regulating plant growth and development. Results Grape (Vitis vinifera L. cv. ‘Pinot Noir’) plantlets cultured with exogenous carbon (2% sucrose, 1000 μmol·mol-1 CO2 and with both 2% sucrose and 1000 μmol·mol-1 CO2 were designated as S1, C0 and Cs, respectively). We used S0 (without sucrose, ambient CO2) as CK to analyze the differential expression genes and proteins induced by exogenous carbon. Through the transcriptomic and proteomic analysis, with pooled data for Cs, C0 and S1 compared with CK, 70 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 65 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were identified. Based on biological functions and physiological characteristics, we identified 8 DEGs and 2 DEPs related to ethylene signaling process. Amongst the DEGs we focussed on ERF TFs, including ERF5 (LOC100244353, LOC100247763, LOC100254616 and LOC100261260), ERF105 (LOC100249507 and LOC100259725), ERF2 (LOC100254640) and CTr (CTr7). Also, there were 2 DEPs related to ethylene metabolism, such as S-adenosylmethionine synthase 5 (SAM synthase 5; XP_002280106.1) and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid oxidase 2 (ACC oxidase 2; NP_001267871.1) were also identified. The transcriptome and proteome results suggested that exogenous carbon inhibits ethylene biosynthesis through ACC oxidase 2. Additionally, CTr7 and ERF5, which were up-regulated, are related to the ethylene signaling pathway. We speculate that exogenous carbon regulates plant growth through ethylene signaling pathways, but which inhibit ethylene biosynthesis. Conclusions Exogenous carbon regulates the expression of ethylene biosynthesis and signaling related genes, which may improve plant growth through the ethylene signaling pathway.