Li Lili, Li Qiong, Chen Bin, Wang Jiyu, Ding Fei, Wang Panqiao, Zhang Xiuyue, Hou Juan, Luo Renren, Li Xiang, Zheng Jingwen, Yang Sen, Yang Luming, Zhu Lei, Sun Shouru, Ma Changsheng, Li Qin, Li Ying, Hu Jianbin
College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
The Seed Management Station of Zhengzhou City, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
Hortic Res. 2023 May 9;10(7):uhad093. doi: 10.1093/hr/uhad093. eCollection 2023 Jun.
Trade-offs between survival and growth are widely observed in plants. Melon is an annual, trailing herb that produces economically valuable fruits that are traditionally cultivated in early spring in China. Melon seedlings are sensitive to low temperatures, and thus usually suffer from cold stress during the early growth period. However, little is known about the mechanism behind the trade-offs between seedling cold tolerance and fruit quality in melon. In this study, a total of 31 primary metabolites were detected from the mature fruits of eight melon lines that differ with respect to seedling cold tolerance; these included 12 amino acids, 10 organic acids, and 9 soluble sugars. Our results showed that concentrations of most of the primary metabolites in the cold-resistant melons were generally lower than in the cold-sensitive melons; the greatest difference in metabolite levels was observed between the cold-resistant line H581 and the moderately cold-resistant line HH09. The metabolite and transcriptome data for these two lines were then subjected to weighted correlation network analysis, resulting in the identification of five key candidate genes underlying the balancing between seedling cold tolerance and fruit quality. Among these genes, might play multiple roles in regulating chloroplast development, photosynthesis, and the ABA pathway. Furthermore, multi-method functional analysis showed that can certainly improve both seedling cold tolerance and fruit quality in melon. Our study identified an agriculturally important gene, , and provides a new insight into breeding methods to develop melon cultivars with seedling cold tolerance and high fruit quality.
植物中广泛存在生存与生长之间的权衡。甜瓜是一种一年生蔓生草本植物，其果实具有经济价值，在中国传统上于早春种植。甜瓜幼苗对低温敏感，因此在生长初期通常会遭受冷胁迫。然而，关于甜瓜幼苗抗寒性与果实品质之间权衡背后的机制，人们了解甚少。在本研究中，从八个幼苗抗寒性不同的甜瓜品系的成熟果实中总共检测到31种初级代谢产物；其中包括12种氨基酸、10种有机酸和9种可溶性糖。我们的结果表明，抗寒甜瓜中大多数初级代谢产物的浓度通常低于冷敏感甜瓜；在抗寒品系H581和中度抗寒品系HH09之间观察到代谢产物水平的最大差异。然后对这两个品系的代谢产物和转录组数据进行加权相关网络分析，从而鉴定出五个在幼苗抗寒性和果实品质平衡中起关键作用的候选基因。在这些基因中， 可能在调节叶绿体发育、光合作用和脱落酸途径中发挥多种作用。此外，多方法功能分析表明， 确实可以提高甜瓜的幼苗抗寒性和果实品质。我们的研究鉴定出一个具有重要农业意义的基因， ，并为培育具有幼苗抗寒性和高果实品质的甜瓜品种的育种方法提供了新的见解。
