Abstract
The BBX family proteins are important zinc-finger transcription factors containing a B-BOX domain. In Arabidopsis thaliana, 32 BBX encoding genes were described and classified in five groups, according with domain structure. Functionally, there were already described proteins involved with circadian clock, in response to abiotic and biotic stress, and light signalling transduction. In tomato, Solanum lycopersicum, only one BBX protein was functionally characterized that regulates carotenogenesis. Preliminary studies of our group have identified 31 BBXs encoding genes in this species and, after an extensive transcriptional profile, six genes whose mRNA accumulation is induced or repressed during fruit ripening, SlBBX16, SlBBX19, SlBBX20, SlBBX26, SlBBX28 and SlBBX29. This expression pattern suggests that these genes are associated with chloroplast-chromoplast transition and, consequently in determining nutritional quality, therefore, this project aim to obtain mutant knockout lineages for each of these genes, using the CRISPR-Cas9 (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) system, thereby investigating their function in the context of fruit development and ripening.
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