Role of the KNOTTED1‐LIKE HOMEOBOX protein (KD1) in regulating abscission of tomato flower pedicels at early and late stages of the process

Abstract The KNOTTED1‐LIKE HOMEOBOX PROTEIN1 ( KD1 ) gene is highly expressed in flower and leaf abscission zones (AZs), and KD1 was reported to regulate tomato flower pedicel abscission via alteration of the auxin gradient and response in the flower AZ (FAZ). The present work was aimed to further examine how KD1 regulates signaling factors and regulatory genes involved in pedicel abscission, by using silenced KD1 lines and performing a large‐scale transcriptome profiling of the FAZ before and after flower removal, using a customized AZ‐specific microarray. The results highlighted a differential expression of regulatory genes in the FAZ of KD1 ‐silenced plants compared to the wild‐type. In the TAPG4::antisense KD1 ‐silenced plants, KD1 gene expression decreased before flower removal, resulting in altered expression of regulatory genes, such as epigenetic modifiers, transcription factors, posttranslational regulators, and antioxidative defense factors occurring at zero time and before affecting auxin levels in the FAZ detected at 4 h after flower removal. The expression of additional regulatory genes was altered in the FAZ of KD1 ‐silenced plants at 4–20 h after flower removal, thereby leading to an inhibited abscission phenotype, and downregulation of genes involved in abscission execution and defense processes. Our data suggest that KD1 is a master regulator of the abscission process, which promotes abscission of tomato flower pedicels. This suggestion is based on the inhibitory effect of KD1 silencing on flower pedicel abscission that operates via alteration of various regulatory pathways, which delay the competence acquisition of the FAZ cells to respond to ethylene signaling.