ARF — Solanum lycopersicum

Summary

SlARF (SOLYC01G100870.3) on tomato chromosome 1 encodes a small GTPase of the Arf1-5-like family, with annotated molecular functions including G protein activity, phosphatidylinositol kinase activity, phospholipase activator activity, and actin binding. In tomato, SlARF is associated with leaflet and sepal formation, placentation, root system development, regulation of auxin metabolism, carotenoid and chlorophyll metabolism, cuticle anabolism, and vesicle-mediated transport. The gene is linked to numerous agronomic traits including fruit firmness and size, biomass yield, starch and sugar content, leaf relative water content, water use efficiency, chlorophyll content, days to flowering, stem elongation, root length and mass density, phototropism, blue light sensitivity, ethylene sensitivity, viral disease response, and low temperature stress response. Studies of related genes in other species connect the family to phototropic growth, chloroplast relocation, stomatal opening, and drought tolerance.