In China, in Arabidopsis, rice and tomato, the SEUSS gene encodes a transcriptional adaptor as well as a nuclear localization protein that is widely expressed in many developmental stages and organs. However, the function of SEUSS has not been reported in woody plants.
In a previous study, researchers from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences isolated and cloned a cDNA from Jatropha curcas (a perennial woody oil crop), designated JcSEUSS1. They found that the JcSEUSS1 gene was expressed in almost all tissues of Jatropha, similar to Arabidopsis and rice, suggesting that JcSEUSS1 may be involved in multiple aspects of development and growth in Jatropha
In a study published in Planta, the researchers reported the effect of JcSEUSS1 functions on the reproductive growth stage of Jatropha by systematically overexpressing and silencing the JcSEUSS1 gene.
They found that overexpression of JcSEUSS1 exhibited a negative effect on reproductive growth, and silencing of the JcSEUSS1 gene had a remarkable effect on the development of flowers, fruits, and seeds, resulting in a significant increase in seed yield.
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