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Pak. J. Bot., 47(4): 1359-1366, 2015.

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IDENTIFICATION OF A NOVEL GA-RELATED BUSH MUTANT IN PUMPKIN (CUCURBITA MOSCHATA DUCHESNE)

TAO WU^1,3*, JIASHU CAO², ZHIWEI QIN^1,3 AND YALIN DU^1,3

Abstract: Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duchesne) bush mutant plants were characterized by short stems. The sensitivity of pumpkin bush mutant plants to exogenous hormones was identified in this study. Results revealed that internode elongation of bush mutant plants could respond to gibberellins (GA₄₊₇ and GA₃), but not to indole acetic acid (IAA) and brassinosteroids (BR); by contrast, the mutant phenotype of bush mutant plants could not be fully rescued by GA₄₊₇ and GA₃. The internode of bush mutant plants yielded a lower KS expression level than that of vine plants. Therefore, pumpkin bush mutant plants were designated as GA-related mutant plants eliciting a partial response to GAs; the action of IAA and BR might not be involved in the internode growth of pumpkin bush mutant plants, specifically Cucurbita moschata Duch.

Key words: Auxin, Brassinosteroids, Bush, Gibberellins, Pumpkin.

¹Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops (Northeast Region), Ministry of Agriculture, Northeast Agricultural University, 59 Mucai Street, Harbin 150030, China

²Institute of Vegetable Science, Zhejiang University, 268 Kaixuan Road, Hangzhou 310029, China

³Horticultural College, Northeast Agricultural University, 59 Mucai Street, Harbin 150030, China

^*Corresponding authors e-mail: hortitw@gmail.com