Involvement of Vacuolar Processing Enzyme CgVPE1 in Vacuole Rupture in the Programmed Cell Death during the Development of the Secretory Cavity in Citrus grandis ‘Tomentosa’ Fruits

Vacuolar processing enzymes (VPEs) with caspase-1-like activity are closely associated with vacuole rupture. The destruction of vacuoles is one of the characteristics of programmed cell death (PCD) in plants. However, whether VPE is involved in the vacuole destruction of cells during secretory cavity formation in Citrus plants remains unclear. This research identified a CgVPE1 gene that encoded the VPE and utilized cytology and molecular biology techniques to explore its temporal and spatial expression characteristics during the PCD process of secretory cavity cells in the Citrus grandis ‘Tomentosa’ fruit. The results showed that CgVPE1 is an enzyme with VPE and caspase-1-like activity that can self-cleave into a mature enzyme in an acidic environment. CgVPE1 is specifically expressed in the epithelial cells of secretory cavities. In addition, it mainly accumulates in vacuoles before it is ruptured in the secretory cavity cells. The spatial and temporal immunolocalization of CgVPE1 showed a strong relationship with the change in vacuole structure during PCD in secretory cavity cells. In addition, the change in the two types of VPE proteins from proenzymes to mature enzymes was closely related to the change in CgVPE1 localization. Our results indicate that CgVPE1 plays a vital role in PCD, causing vacuole rupture in cells during the development of the secretory cavity in C. grandis ‘Tomentosa’ fruits.