Gao Wenrui, She Fuchun, Sun Yanjun, Han Bing, Wang Xiansheng, Xu Gang
Institute of Vegetable Crop, Jiangsu Province Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China.
Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Horticultural Crop Genetic Improvement, Nanjing 210014, China.
Plants (Basel). 2023 Feb 18;12(4):935. doi: 10.3390/plants12040935.
Watermelon is one of people's favorite fruits globally. Fruit size is one of the important characteristics of fruit quality. Low light can seriously affect fruit development, but there have been no reports concerning molecular mechanism analysis in watermelons involved in fruit expansion under low-light stress. To understand this mechanism, the comparative transcriptomic file of watermelon fruit flesh at four different developmental stages under different light levels was studied. The results showed that the fruit size and content of soluble sugar and amino acids at low-light stress significantly decreased compared to the control. In addition, 0-15 DAP was the rapid expansion period of watermelon fruit affected by shading. In total, 8837 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified and 55 DEGs were found to play a role in the four different early fruit development stages. We also found that genes related to oxidation-reduction, secondary metabolites, carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism and transcriptional regulation played a key role in watermelon fruit expansion under low-light stress. This study provides a foundation to investigate the functions of low-light stress-responsive genes and the molecular mechanism of the effects of low-light stress on watermelon fruit expansion.
西瓜是全球人们最喜爱的水果之一。果实大小是果实品质的重要特征之一。弱光会严重影响果实发育，但目前尚无关于西瓜在弱光胁迫下果实膨大分子机制分析的报道。为了解这一机制，研究了不同光照水平下西瓜果肉在四个不同发育阶段的比较转录组文件。结果表明，与对照相比，弱光胁迫下西瓜果实大小、可溶性糖和氨基酸含量显著降低。此外，花后0-15天是受遮荫影响的西瓜果实快速膨大期。共鉴定出8837个差异表达基因（DEG），发现55个DEG在果实发育的四个不同早期阶段发挥作用。我们还发现，与氧化还原、次生代谢物、碳水化合物和氨基酸代谢以及转录调控相关的基因在弱光胁迫下西瓜果实膨大过程中起关键作用。本研究为探究弱光胁迫响应基因的功能以及弱光胁迫对西瓜果实膨大影响的分子机制奠定了基础。
