ArticlePlant physiology2021
A positive feedback loop mediated by CsERF31 initiates female cucumber flower development.
Article in Plant physiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Developmental and Molecular Insights into AgNOPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- A Novel AP2/ERF Transcription Factor Controls Trichome Initiation and Fruit Development in Cucumber.Plant biotechnology journal · 2026Article
- Loss of the nuclear factor Y subunit B3 gene causes chlorosis and chloroplast development defects in cucumber.Horticulture research · 2026Article
- Hermaphroditism inPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- A high-density SNP linkage map reveals a major LG3 QTL hotspot controlling early-maturity-related traits in ridge gourd (Frontiers in plant science · 2026Article
- Co-domestication of cold tolerance and female flower is determined by CsEIN2 in cucumber.Plant biotechnology journal · 2025Article
- Research Advances and Perspectives on Early Flowering Traits in Cucumber.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Ethylene in fruits: beyond ripening control.Horticulture research · 2024Article
- Phylogeny and expression patterns of ERF genes that are potential reproductive inducers in hybrid larch.BMC genomics · 2024Article
- Multi-Omics Analysis Reveals Intricate Gene Networks Involved in Female Development in Melon.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Citrus ACC synthase CiACS4 regulates plant height by inhibiting gibberellin biosynthesis.Plant physiology · 2023Article
- The transcription factor CmERFI-2 represses CmMYB44 expression to increase sucrose levels in oriental melon fruit.Plant physiology · 2023Article
- Article
- Advance in sex differentiation in cucumber.Frontiers in plant science · 2023Review
- Plasmodesmata and their role in the regulation of phloem unloading during fruit development.Current opinion in plant biology · 2021Review
- A cucumber NAM domain transcription factor promotes pistil development in Arabidopsis.Molecular horticulture · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Sex determination is a crucially important developmental event that is pervasive throughout nature and enhances the adaptation of species. Among plants, cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) can generate both unisexual and bisexual flowers, and the sex type is mainly controlled by several 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) synthases. However, the regulatory mechanism of these synthases remains elusive. Here, we used gene expression analysis, protein-DNA interaction assays and transgenic plants to study the function of a gynoecium-specific gene, ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR31 (CsERF31), in female flower differentiation. We found that in a predetermined female flower, ethylene signalling activates CsERF31 by CsEIN3, and then CsERF31 stimulates CsACS2, which triggers a positive feedback loop to ensure female rather than bisexual flower development. A similar interplay is functionally conserved in melon (Cucumis melo L.). Knockdown of CsERF31 by RNAi causes defective bisexual flowers to replace female flowers. Ectopic expression of CsERF31 suppresses stamen development and promotes pistil development in male flowers, demonstrating that CsERF31 functions as a sex switch. Taken together, our data confirm that CsERF31 represents the molecular link between female-male determination and female-bisexual determination, and provide mechanistic insight into how ethylene promotes female flowers, rather than bisexual flowers, in cucumber sex determination.
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