Fruit set and development are affected by many phytohormones, including gibberellin.  Little is known regarding molecular mechanism underlying gibberellin mediated fruit set and development especially in Capsicum.  Three gibberellin receptors, CaGID1b.1, CaGID1b.2 and CaGID1c, and a DELLA protein, CaGAI, have been identified in Capsicum annuum L.  During the fruit development, the expression level of CaGID1c was low, and the expression fold change is mild.  However, CaGID1b.1 and CaGID1b.2 were relatively higher and more acute, which indicates that CaGID1b.1 and CaGID1b.2 may play an important role in fruit pericarp, placenta and seed.  Ectopic expressions of CaGID1b.1, CaGID1b.2 and CaGID1c in Arabidopsis double mutant gid1a gid1c increased plant height, among which CaGID1b.2 had the most significant effect; CaGAI reduced plant height in double mutant rga-24/gai-t6, having a similar function to AtGID1 and AtGAI in stem elongation.  Yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) and bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) assays indicated that CaGID1b.1 and CaGID1b.2 interact with CaGAI in a GA-dependent manner, while CaGID1c interacts with CaGAI in a GA-independent manner.  Our study reveals the key elements during gibberellin signaling in Capsicum and supports the critical importance of gibberellin for Capsicum fruit set and development.

Low light stress is one of the most important factors affecting photosynthesis and growth in winter production of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) in solar greenhouses in northern China. Here, two genotypes of cucumber (Deltastar and Jinyan 2) are used to determine the effect of low light stress on Rubisco expression and photosynthesis of leaves from emergence to senescence. During leaf development, the net photosynthetic rate (PN), stomatal conductance (gs), Rubisco initial activity and activation state, transcript levels of rbcL and rbcS, and the abundance of rbcL and rbcS DNA in these two genotypes increase rapidly to reach maximum in 10-20 d, and then decrease gradually. Meanwhile, the actual photosystem II efficiency (ФPSII) of cucumber leaves slowly increased in the early leaf developing stages, but it declined quickly in leaf senescent stages, accompanied by an increased non-photochemical quenching (NPQ). Moreover, PN, gs, initial Rubisco activity, and abundance of protein, mRNA and DNA of Rubisco subunits of leaves grown under 100 μmol m-2 s-1 are lower, and require more time to reach their maxima than those grown under 600 μmol m-2 s-1 during leaf development. All these results suggest that lower photosynthetic capacity of cucumber leaves from emergence to senescence under low light stress is probably due to down-regulated Rubisco gene expression in transcript and protein levels, and decreased initial and total activity as well as activation state of Rubisco. Deltastar performs better than Jinyan 2 under low light stress.

Low light stress is one of the main limiting factors which influence the production of sweet pepper under protected cultivation in China. In this experiment, two genotypes of sweet pepper, ShY (low light-tolerant genotype) and 20078 (low light-sensitive genotype), were used to study the effects of low light (photosynthetic photon flux density, PPFD was 75- 100 μmol m-2 s-1, control 450-500 μmol m-2 s-1) on photosynthesis during leaf development. The result indicated that under low light chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic rate (PN), photosynthetic apparent quantum efficiency ( i) and carboxylation efficiency (CE) of sweet pepper leaves increased gradually and decreased after reaching the maximum levels. The time to reach the peak values for all the above parameters was delayed, whereas the light compensation point (LCP) decreased gradually along with leaf expansion. The decrease in maximum quantum yield of PS II (Fv/Fm) was not observed at any stages of the leaf development under low light condition, but the actual PS II efficiency under irradiance ( PS II) was lower accompanied by an increased non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) in young and/or old leaves compared with mature leaves. The antenna thermal dissipation (D) was a main way of heat dissipation when young leaves received excessive light energy, while the decline in photosynthetic function in senescence leaf was mostly owing to the decrease in carbon assimilation capacity, followed by a significantly increased allocation of excessive energy (Ex). Compared with 20078, ShY could maintain higher PN, PS II and lower QA reduction state for a longer time during leaf development. Thus, in ShY photosynthetic efficiency and the activity of electron transport of PS II were not significantly affected due to low light stress.