Hortic Res | Henan Agricultural University Discovers A Simple And Efficient Gene Function Analysis Method That Can Be Used For Studying The Growth And Development Of Peach Seedlings.

Peach is one of the species with important economic value in the Rosaceae family. The tree structure of peach greatly affects the production efficiency of orchards, and studying tree architecture-related traits of peach is of great significance. Due to many technical challenges in stable genetic transformation of peach, existing transient expression methods are limited by tissue types or developmental stages. Therefore, so far, there is no method that can support the functional analysis of structural genes in peach trees. To overcome this dilemma, this study developed a three-step method that can efficiently analyze the gene function during the growth and development of peach seedlings.

In July 2024, Horticulture Research published online a research paper titled "A simple and efficient gene functional analysis method for studying the growth and development of peach seedlings" by the College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University.

To verify the applicability of this method, this study successfully verified the functions of tree architecture-related genes. The roles of PpMAX4, PpWEEP, PpDGYLA, and PpDELLA1/2 genes in plant height, branch growth, and weeping growth were effectively confirmed. In addition, overexpression of the PpIAA14 gene involved in lateral root formation effectively reduced the formation of lateral roots in peach seedlings. This method will become a powerful tool for analyzing the functions of genes related to the growth and development of peach trees.

Associate professor Cheng Jun and master student Shao Yun from the College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University are co-first authors of the paper, and professor Feng Jiancan and lecturer Zhang Langlang are corresponding authors of the paper. This study was jointly funded by the National Natural Science Joint Fund (U1804114), the National Key Research and Development Program (2019YFD1000104), and the Henan Modern Agricultural Industry Technology Project (HARS-22-09-G1).