Abstract:

A long fruit (lf) mutant was obtained from the cucumber inbred line 'SN5' by ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS)-mediated mutagenesis. We found that plant height and internode length of lf were significantly decreased, while leaf area was significantly increased in comparison to wild type (WT) plants. Higher carbohydrate level, together with lower chlorophyll content and photosynthetic parameters, was revealed in lf leaves than those of WT. Longer fruits, as well as enhanced fruit quality, were observed for mutant plants in comparison to WT, and the difference in fruit length was continuously increased with the development of fruits. ELISA and real-time PCR analyses demonstrated the significant alterations in not only the CTK and IAA contents but also the expression of key genes related to cytokinin and auxin signalings in the fruits of lf when compared to WT plants, evidencing the involvement of cytokinin and auxin in fruit elongation of lf cucumber. Our results could benefit subsequent gene mapping and expand our knowledge about cucumber fruit length regulation.

Keywords: