Shin Ah-Young, Kim Yong-Min, Koo Namjin, Lee Su Min, Nahm Seokhyeon, Kwon Suk-Yoon
Plant Systems Engineering Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) , Daejeon , Korea.
Korean Bioinformation Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) , Daejeon , Korea.
PeerJ. 2017 Jan 4;5:e2834. doi: 10.7717/peerj.2834. eCollection 2017.
The oriental melon ( L. var. ) is one of the most important cultivated cucurbits grown widely in Korea, Japan, and northern China. It is cultivated because its fruit has a sweet aromatic flavor and is rich in soluble sugars, organic acids, minerals, and vitamins. In order to elucidate the genetic and molecular basis of the developmental changes that determine size, color, and sugar contents of the fruit, we performed transcriptome sequencing to analyze the genes expressed during fruit development.
We identified a total of 47,666 of representative loci from 100,875 transcripts and functionally annotated 33,963 of the loci based on orthologs in . Among those loci, we identified 5,173 differentially expressed genes, which were classified into 14 clusters base on the modulation of their expression patterns. The expression patterns suggested that the differentially expressed genes were related to fruit development and maturation through diverse metabolic pathways. Analyses based on gene set enrichment and the pathways described in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes suggested that the expression of genes involved in starch and sucrose metabolism and carotenoid biosynthesis were regulated dynamically during fruit development and subsequent maturation.
Our results provide the gene expression patterns related to different stages of fruit development and maturation in the oriental melon. The expression patterns give clues about important regulatory mechanisms, especially those involving starch, sugar, and carotenoid biosynthesis, in the development of the oriental melon fruit.
东方甜瓜（甜瓜变种）是在韩国、日本和中国北方广泛种植的最重要的栽培葫芦科作物之一。因其果实具有甜香风味且富含可溶性糖、有机酸、矿物质和维生素而被种植。为了阐明决定果实大小、颜色和糖分含量的发育变化的遗传和分子基础，我们进行了转录组测序，以分析果实发育过程中表达的基因。
我们从100,875个转录本中总共鉴定出47,666个代表性基因座，并基于拟南芥中的直系同源物对其中33,963个基因座进行了功能注释。在这些基因座中，我们鉴定出5,173个差异表达基因，根据其表达模式的调控将其分为14个簇。表达模式表明，差异表达基因通过多种代谢途径与果实发育和成熟相关。基于基因集富集分析以及《京都基因与基因组百科全书》中描述的途径表明，参与淀粉和蔗糖代谢以及类胡萝卜素生物合成的基因的表达在果实发育和随后的成熟过程中受到动态调控。
我们的结果提供了与东方甜瓜果实发育和成熟不同阶段相关的基因表达模式。这些表达模式为东方甜瓜果实发育中的重要调控机制，特别是那些涉及淀粉、糖和类胡萝卜素生物合成的机制提供了线索。
