Daniel Just

Publications of Daniel Just

• Regulation of the Fruit-Specific PEP Carboxylase SlPPC2 Promoter at Early Stages of Tomato Fruit Development

  Authors: Carine Guillet, Mourad A M Aboul-Soud, Aline Le Menn, Nicolas Viron, Anne Pribat, Vé Ronique, Daniel Just, Pierre Baldet, Patrick Rousselle, Martine Lemaire-Chamley, Christophe Rothan

  PLoS ONE. 05/2012; 7(5-e36795):e36795.

  The SlPPC2 phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC; EC 4.1.1.31) gene from tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is differentially and specifically expressed in expanding tissues of developing tomato fruit. WeThe SlPPC2 phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC; EC 4.1.1.31) gene from tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is differentially and specifically expressed in expanding tissues of developing tomato fruit. We recently showed that a 1966 bp DNA fragment located upstream of the ATG codon of the SlPPC2 gene (GenBank AJ313434) confers appropriate fruit-specificity in transgenic tomato. In this study, we further investigated the regulation of the SlPPC2 promoter gene by analysing the SlPPC2 cis-regulating region fused to either the firefly luciferase (LUC) or the b-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene, using stable genetic transformation and biolistic transient expression assays in the fruit. Biolistic analyses of 59 SlPPC2 promoter deletions fused to LUC in fruits at the 8 th day after anthesis revealed that positive regulatory regions are mostly located in the distal region of the promoter. In addition, a 59 UTR leader intron present in the 1966 bp fragment contributes to the proper temporal regulation of LUC activity during fruit development. Interestingly, the SlPPC2 promoter responds to hormones (ethylene) and metabolites (sugars) regulating fruit growth and metabolism. When tested by transient expression assays, the chimeric promoter:LUC fusion constructs allowed gene expression in both fruit and leaf, suggesting that integration into the chromatin is required for fruit-specificity. These results clearly demonstrate that SlPPC2 gene is under tight transcriptional regulation in the developing fruit and that its promoter can be employed to drive transgene expression specifically during the cell expansion stage of tomato fruit. Taken together, the SlPPC2 promoter offers great potential as a candidate for driving transgene expression specifically in developing tomato fruit from various tomato cultivars. Citation: Guillet C, Aboul-Soud MAM, Le Menn A, Viron N, Pribat A, et al. (2012) Regulation of the Fruit-Specific PEP Carboxylase SlPPC2 Promoter at Early Stages of Tomato Fruit Development. PLoS ONE 7(5): e36795. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0036795 Copyright: ß 2012 Guillet et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was supported by the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), by the Région Aquitaine, and by a grant from EUSOL European Integrated Project [FOOD-CT-2006-016214 to NV]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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• Regulation of the Fruit-Specific PEP Carboxylase SlPPC2 Promoter at Early Stages of Tomato Fruit Development.

  Authors: Carine Guillet, Mourad A M Aboul-Soud, Aline Le Menn, Nicolas Viron, Anne Pribat, Véronique Germain, Daniel Just, Pierre Baldet, Patrick Rousselle, Martine Lemaire-Chamley, Christophe Rothan

  PloS one. 01/2012; 7(5):e36795.

  The SlPPC2 phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC; EC 4.1.1.31) gene from tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is differentially and specifically expressed in expanding tissues of developing tomato fruit. WeThe SlPPC2 phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC; EC 4.1.1.31) gene from tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is differentially and specifically expressed in expanding tissues of developing tomato fruit. We recently showed that a 1966 bp DNA fragment located upstream of the ATG codon of the SlPPC2 gene (GenBank AJ313434) confers appropriate fruit-specificity in transgenic tomato. In this study, we further investigated the regulation of the SlPPC2 promoter gene by analysing the SlPPC2 cis-regulating region fused to either the firefly luciferase (LUC) or the β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene, using stable genetic transformation and biolistic transient expression assays in the fruit. Biolistic analyses of 5' SlPPC2 promoter deletions fused to LUC in fruits at the 8(th) day after anthesis revealed that positive regulatory regions are mostly located in the distal region of the promoter. In addition, a 5' UTR leader intron present in the 1966 bp fragment contributes to the proper temporal regulation of LUC activity during fruit development. Interestingly, the SlPPC2 promoter responds to hormones (ethylene) and metabolites (sugars) regulating fruit growth and metabolism. When tested by transient expression assays, the chimeric promoter:LUC fusion constructs allowed gene expression in both fruit and leaf, suggesting that integration into the chromatin is required for fruit-specificity. These results clearly demonstrate that SlPPC2 gene is under tight transcriptional regulation in the developing fruit and that its promoter can be employed to drive transgene expression specifically during the cell expansion stage of tomato fruit. Taken together, the SlPPC2 promoter offers great potential as a candidate for driving transgene expression specifically in developing tomato fruit from various tomato cultivars.

• SNP discovery and linkage map construction in cultivated tomato.

  Authors: Kenta Shirasawa, Sachiko Isobe, Hideki Hirakawa, Erika Asamizu, Hiroyuki Fukuoka, Daniel Just, Christophe Rothan, Shigemi Sasamoto, Tsunakazu Fujishiro, Yoshie Kishida, Mitsuyo Kohara, Hisano Tsuruoka, Tsuyuko Wada, Yasukazu Nakamura, Shusei Sato, Satoshi Tabata

  DNA research : an international journal for rapid publication of reports on genes and genomes. 11/2010; 17(6):381-91.

  Few intraspecific genetic linkage maps have been reported for cultivated tomato, mainly because genetic diversity within Solanum lycopersicum is much less than that between tomato species. SingleFew intraspecific genetic linkage maps have been reported for cultivated tomato, mainly because genetic diversity within Solanum lycopersicum is much less than that between tomato species. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), the most abundant source of genomic variation, are the most promising source of polymorphisms for the construction of linkage maps for closely related intraspecific lines. In this study, we developed SNP markers based on expressed sequence tags for the construction of intraspecific linkage maps in tomato. Out of the 5607 SNP positions detected through in silico analysis, 1536 were selected for high-throughput genotyping of two mapping populations derived from crosses between 'Micro-Tom' and either 'Ailsa Craig' or 'M82'. A total of 1137 markers, including 793 out of the 1338 successfully genotyped SNPs, along with 344 simple sequence repeat and intronic polymorphism markers, were mapped onto two linkage maps, which covered 1467.8 and 1422.7 cM, respectively. The SNP markers developed were then screened against cultivated tomato lines in order to estimate the transferability of these SNPs to other breeding materials. The molecular markers and linkage maps represent a milestone in the genomics and genetics, and are the first step toward molecular breeding of cultivated tomato. Information on the DNA markers, linkage maps, and SNP genotypes for these tomato lines is available at http://www.kazusa.or.jp/tomato/.

• Silencing of the mitochondrial ascorbate synthesizing enzyme L-galactono-1,4-lactone dehydrogenase affects plant and fruit development in tomato.

  Authors: Moftah Alhagdow, Fabien Mounet, Louise Gilbert, Adriano Nunes-Nesi, Virginie Garcia, Daniel Just, Johann Petit, Bertrand Beauvoit, Alisdair R Fernie, Christophe Rothan, Pierre Baldet

  Plant physiology. 01/2008; 145(4):1408-22.

  L-Galactono-1,4-lactone dehydrogenase (EC 1.3.2.3) catalyzes the last step in the main pathway of vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) biosynthesis in higher plants. In this study, we first characterized theL-Galactono-1,4-lactone dehydrogenase (EC 1.3.2.3) catalyzes the last step in the main pathway of vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) biosynthesis in higher plants. In this study, we first characterized the spatial and temporal expression of SlGalLDH in several organs of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants in parallel with the ascorbate content. P(35S):Slgalldh(RNAi) silenced transgenic tomato lines were then generated using an RNAi strategy to evaluate the effect of any resulting modification of the ascorbate pool on plant and fruit development. In all P(35S):Slgalldh(RNAi) plants with reduced SlGalLDH transcript and activity, plant growth rate was decreased. Plants displaying the most severe effects (dwarf plants with no fruit) were excluded from further analysis. The most affected lines studied exhibited up to an 80% reduction in SlGalLDH activity and showed a strong reduction in leaf and fruit size, mainly as a consequence of reduced cell expansion. This was accompanied by significant changes in mitochondrial function and altered ascorbate redox state despite the fact that the total ascorbate content remained unchanged. By using a combination of transcriptomic and metabolomic approaches, we further demonstrated that several primary, like the tricarboxylic acid cycle, as well as secondary metabolic pathways related to stress response were modified in leaves and fruit of P(35S):Slgalldh(RNAi) plants. When taken together, this work confirms the complexity of ascorbate regulation and its link with plant metabolism. Moreover, it strongly suggests that, in addition to ascorbate synthesis, GalLDH could play an important role in the regulation of cell growth-related processes in plants.

• The expression of cell proliferation-related genes in early developing flowers is affected by a fruit load reduction in tomato plants.

  Authors: Pierre Baldet, Michel Hernould, Frédéric Laporte, Fabien Mounet, Daniel Just, Armand Mouras, Christian Chevalier, Christophe Rothan

  Journal of experimental botany. 02/2006; 57(4):961-70.

  Changes in photoassimilate partitioning between source and sink organs significantly affect fruit development and size. In this study, a comparison was made of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L.)Changes in photoassimilate partitioning between source and sink organs significantly affect fruit development and size. In this study, a comparison was made of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L.) grown under a low fruit load (one fruit per truss, L1 plants) and under a standard fruit load (five fruits per truss, L5 plants), at morphological, biochemical, and molecular levels. Fruit load reduction resulted in increased photoassimilate availability in the plant and in increased growth rates in all plant organs analysed (root, stem, leaf, flower, and fruit). Larger flower and fruit size in L1 plants were correlated with higher cell number in the pre-anthesis ovary. This was probably due to the acceleration of the flower growth rate since other flower developmental parameters (schedule and time-course) remained otherwise unaffected. Using RT-PCR, it was shown that the transcript levels of CYCB2;1 (cyclin) and CDKB2;1 (cyclin-dependent kinase), two mitosis-specific genes, strongly increased early in developing flower buds. Remarkably, the transcript abundance of CYCD3;1, a D-type cyclin potentially involved in cell cycle regulation in response to mitogenic signals, also increased by more than 5-fold at very early stages of L1 flower development. By contrast, transcripts from fw2.2, a putative negative regulator of cell division in tomato fruit, strongly decreased in developing flower bud, as confirmed by in situ hybridization studies. Taken together, these results suggest that changes in carbohydrate partitioning could control fruit size through the regulation of cell proliferation-related genes at very early stages of flower development.

• Changes in transcriptional profiles are associated with early fruit tissue specialization in tomato.

  Authors: Martine Lemaire-Chamley, Johann Petit, Virginie Garcia, Daniel Just, Pierre Baldet, Véronique Germain, Mathilde Fagard, Mariam Mouassite, Catherine Cheniclet, Christophe Rothan

  Plant physiology. 11/2005; 139(2):750-69.

  The cell expansion phase contributes in determining the major characteristics of a fleshy fruit and represents two-thirds of the total fruit development in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). So far, itThe cell expansion phase contributes in determining the major characteristics of a fleshy fruit and represents two-thirds of the total fruit development in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). So far, it has received very little attention. To evaluate the interest of a genomic scale approach, we performed an initial sequencing of approximately 1,200 cell expansion stage-related sequence tags from tomato fruit at 8, 12, and 15 d post anthesis. Interestingly, up to approximately 35% of the expressed sequence tags showed no homology with available tomato expressed sequence tags and up to approximately 21% with any known gene. Microarrays spotted with expansion phase-related cDNAs and other fruit cDNAs involved in various developmental processes were used (1) to profile gene expression in developing fruit and other plant organs and (2) to compare two growing fruit tissues engaged mostly in cell division (exocarp) or in cell expansion (locular tissue surrounding the seeds). Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis was further used to confirm microarray results and to specify expression profiles of selected genes (24) in various tissues from expanding fruit. The wide range of genes expressed in the exocarp is consistent with a protective function and with a high metabolic activity of this tissue. In addition, our data show that the expansion of locular cells is concomitant with the expression of genes controlling water flow, organic acid synthesis, sugar storage, and photosynthesis and suggest that hormones (auxin and gibberellin) regulate this process. The data presented provide a basis for tissue-specific analyses of gene function in growing tomato fruit.

• Physiological, biochemical and molecular analysis of sugar-starvation responses in tomato roots.

  Authors: Carine Devaux, Pierre Baldet, Jérome Joubès, Martine Dieuaide-Noubhani, Daniel Just, Christian Chevalier, Philippe Raymond

  Journal of experimental botany. 05/2003; 54(385):1143-51.

  Two-month-old tomato plants were submitted to day/night cycles and to prolonged darkness in order to investigate the physiological and biochemical response to sugar starvation in sink organs. RootsTwo-month-old tomato plants were submitted to day/night cycles and to prolonged darkness in order to investigate the physiological and biochemical response to sugar starvation in sink organs. Roots appeared particularly sensitive to the cessation of photosynthesis, as revealed by the reduction of the growth rate and the decline of the carbohydrate and protein content. Therefore, excised tomato roots were used as a model to deepen the characterization of sugar starvation symptoms. In excised roots, the endogenous sugars were rapidly exhausted and significant degradation of protein was observed. Glutamine and asparagine accounted for most of the nitrogen released by protein breakdown. Respiration declined and proliferation- and growth-associated genes were repressed soon after the beginning of the sugar depletion. Among the genes studied, only the gene encoding asparagine synthetase was strongly induced. All the starvation symptoms were reversible when the roots were resupplied with sugar. When the culture conditions deteriorated, the metabolic and molecular changes led to the triggering of apoptosis of the root cells.

• A fruit-specific phospho enolpyruvate carboxylase is related to rapid growth of tomato fruit.

  Authors: Carine Guillet, Daniel Just, Nathalie Bénard, Agnès Destrac-Irvine, Pierre Baldet, Michel Hernould, Mathilde Causse, Philippe Raymond, Christophe Rothan

  Planta. 04/2002; 214(5):717-26.

  Malic and citric acids accumulate in cherry tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) fruit during the period of rapid growth, from the end of cell division to the onset of ripening. The involvement ofMalic and citric acids accumulate in cherry tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) fruit during the period of rapid growth, from the end of cell division to the onset of ripening. The involvement of phospho enolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPCase, EC 4.1.1.31) in organic acid accumulation and tomato fruit development was investigated. Two PEPCases, named LYCes;Ppc1 and LYCes;Ppc2 and mapped to chromosomes 12 and 7, respectively, were shown to be differentially expressed during tomato fruit development. LYCes;Ppc1 mRNA was present in all fruit tissues and in all other plant organs examined. In contrast, LYCes;Ppc2 was strongly and specifically expressed in fruit from the end of cell division to ripening. No LYCes;Ppc2 expression was detected by northern blot in other plant tissues. In fruit, the increase in LYCes;Ppc2 mRNA was closely followed by an increase in fruit PEPCase protein and activity, and was coincident with the increased accumulation of malate and citrate during the initial period of rapid growth rate, from 8 to 20 days post anthesis. Localization of LYCes;Ppc2 mRNA in young tomato fruit by in situ hybridization revealed that LYCes;Ppc2 is preferentially expressed in large cells of the pericarp and in enlarging cells of the gel surrounding the seeds. Examination of the kinetic and regulatory properties of the PEPCases of growing and ripening fruit further showed that PEPCase in growing fruit is less sensitive to low pH and malate inhibition, indicating a high phosphorylation state and/or the presence of a PEPCase isoform with these characteristics. Taken together, these results indicate that in developing tomato fruit PEPCase is probably important in permitting the synthesis of organic acids to provide the turgor pressure necessary for cell expansion.