Ma Wei-Hua, Wu Wen-Qin, Song Huai-Lei, Lei Jia, Li Li-Xin
College of Horticulture, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taiyuan, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2025 Apr 4;16:1560186. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1560186. eCollection 2025.
Bee pollination can affect tomato yield and quality. The mechanism of improving the yield and quality of tomatoes by bee pollination is not clear, and few studies have been conducted. To understand how bee pollination affects tomato quality, by using respectively weighing, vernier caliper, handheld refractometer, pH meter to measure single fruit weight, fruit size, the sugar content, and the pH value, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to determine endogenous hormone content, and LC-MS to perform untargeted metabolomics analysis, we compared these physiological indicators, endogenous hormone levels, and metabolism of tomato fruits pollinated after honeybee, bumblebee, and plan growth regulator (PGR) pollination. Our results indicate that the tomatoes pollinated by bumblebees were heavier and larger than those pollinated by honeybees and PGR. The sugar content of tomatoes pollinated by honeybees and bumblebees significantly respectively increased by 7.96% and 10.18% than that of tomatoes pollinated by PGR. The pH value of tomatoes pollinated by honeybees (3.99 ± 0.02) and bumblebees (3.94 ± 0.03) was significantly lower than that of tomatoes pollinated by PGR (4.19 ± 0.04) (p < 0.05). Different pollination methods significantly affected the content of endogenous hormones in fruits. In five endogenous hormones, the highest content was gibberellin (GA) in honeybee pollination treatment, IAA in bumblebee treatment, and the highest contents were abscisic acid (ABA), zeatin (ZT), and -(Δ-isopentenyl) adenosine (iPA) in PGR treatment. It is speculated that different pollination methods may regulate the maturity and quality of tomatoes through different hormone levels. There were respectively five different metabolites (three upregulated and two downregulated), 95 different metabolites (59 upregulated and 36 downregulated), and 95 different metabolites (56 upregulated and 39 downregulated) in honeybee pollination vs. bumblebee pollination, honeybee pollination vs. PGR pollination, and bumblebee pollination vs. PGR pollination. Metabolites are mainly involved in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, flavonoid biosynthesis pathway, and stilbenoid, diarylheptanoid and gingerol biosynthesis. Compared with PGR pollination, the metabolism of amino acids, vitamins, sugars, flavor substances, and organic acids with antioxidant physiological effects in honeybee pollination and bumblebee pollination groups was significantly higher. It can be inferred that the tomato fruit after bee pollination may have a better taste and is favorable to resisting diseases. These results provide valuable insight for uncovering the mechanism of how bee pollination enhances tomato fruit flavor and will enhance our understanding of interactions between bee pollinators and fruit development processes.
蜜蜂授粉会影响番茄的产量和品质。蜜蜂授粉提高番茄产量和品质的机制尚不清楚,相关研究较少。为了解蜜蜂授粉如何影响番茄品质,我们分别使用称重法、游标卡尺、手持折射仪、pH计测量单果重、果实大小、含糖量和pH值,采用酶联免疫吸附测定(ELISA)法测定内源激素含量,并通过液相色谱-质谱联用(LC-MS)进行非靶向代谢组学分析,比较了蜜蜂、熊蜂授粉以及植物生长调节剂(PGR)授粉后番茄果实的这些生理指标、内源激素水平和代谢情况。我们的结果表明,熊蜂授粉的番茄比蜜蜂和PGR授粉的番茄更重、更大。蜜蜂和熊蜂授粉的番茄含糖量分别比PGR授粉的番茄显著提高了7.96%和10.18%。蜜蜂(3.99±0.02)和熊蜂(3.94±0.03)授粉的番茄pH值显著低于PGR授粉的番茄(4.19±0.04)(p<0.05)。不同授粉方式显著影响果实内源激素含量。在五种内源激素中,蜜蜂授粉处理中赤霉素(GA)含量最高,熊蜂处理中生长素(IAA)含量最高,PGR处理中脱落酸(ABA)、玉米素(ZT)和反式玉米素核苷(iPA)含量最高。推测不同授粉方式可能通过不同的激素水平调节番茄的成熟和品质。蜜蜂授粉与熊蜂授粉、蜜蜂授粉与PGR授粉、熊蜂授粉与PGR授粉相比,分别有五种不同代谢物(三种上调、两种下调)、95种不同代谢物(59种上调、36种下调)和95种不同代谢物(56种上调、39种下调)。代谢物主要参与苯丙烷生物合成、类黄酮生物合成途径以及芪类、二芳基庚烷类和姜辣素生物合成。与PGR授粉相比,蜜蜂授粉和熊蜂授粉组中具有抗氧化生理作用的氨基酸、维生素、糖类、风味物质和有机酸的代谢显著增强。可以推断,蜜蜂授粉后的番茄果实可能口感更好,且有利于抗病。这些结果为揭示蜜蜂授粉增强番茄果实风味的机制提供了有价值的见解,并将增进我们对蜜蜂传粉者与果实发育过程之间相互作用的理解。