Lin Shoukai, Wu Bisha, Xiong Yifang, Huang Liyan, Lin Dahe, Lin Jingli, Lin Shunquan, Wu Jincheng
College of Environmental and Biological Engineering, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ecology-Toxicological Effects and Control for Emerging Contaminants, Key Laboratory of Ecological Environment and Information Atlas, Putian University, Putian, 351100, China.
College of Life Sciences, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China.
Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 28;15(1):14794. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-96870-2.
Loquat has both a delicious taste and natural medicinal effects. Fruit yield is the foundation of loquat production. However, as loquat fruits ripen, the time course changes in endogenous hormones and the transcriptome are still unclear, and the mining of loquat fruit development-related genes is still limited. Pulps from four stages of fruit development, including 70 days after full-blooming (DAF) (Z01), 90 DAF (Z02), 110 DAF (Z03), and 130 DAF (Z04), were collected to detect the contents of endogenous hormones and conduct transcriptome analysis. The results revealed that the pulps thickened continuously at a steady speed, whereas the rapid fruit expansion before the Z02 stage could be attributed to a sharp expansion of seeds. In addition, the endogenous hormone levels of the pulps tended to differ among these four stages. A total of 39,051 genes were obtained, and each sample was compared. Z01-VS-Z02, Z01-VS-Z03, and Z01-VS-Z04 presented 2611, 12,594, and 19,214 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), respectively. We found that there were 259, 49, 47, 70, 169, 47, 22 and 33 DEGs related to Aux, GA, CTK, ABA, Eth, BR, SA and JA, respectively. GO and KEGG enrichment analyses revealed that the most obviously enriched terms were photosynthesis-antenna proteins, starch and sucrose metabolism, and photosynthesis. Cluster analysis of the expression trends of the DEGs revealed that 25 clusters were obtained, 16 of which were highly correlated with 1 to 5 hormones. A total of 25 and 28 core genes were systematically identified from clusters 21 and 25, respectively. Heterologous expression revealed that EjHsc70, a selected core gene, promoted Arabidopsis growth and could be involved in the development process of loquat fruit. This study provides new insights into fruit development in Eriobotrya japonica.
枇杷味道鲜美，具有天然药用功效。果实产量是枇杷生产的基础。然而，随着枇杷果实成熟，其内源激素和转录组的时间进程变化仍不清楚，与枇杷果实发育相关基因的挖掘也仍然有限。采集了果实发育四个阶段的果肉，包括盛花后70天（DAF）（Z01）、90 DAF（Z02）、110 DAF（Z03）和130 DAF（Z04），以检测内源激素含量并进行转录组分析。结果表明，果肉以稳定的速度持续增厚，而Z02阶段之前果实的快速膨大可能归因于种子的急剧膨大。此外，这四个阶段果肉的内源激素水平存在差异。共获得39051个基因，并对每个样本进行了比较。Z01-VS-Z02、Z01-VS-Z03和Z01-VS-Z04分别呈现出2611、12594和19214个差异表达基因（DEG）。我们发现，分别有259、49、47、70、169、47、22和33个DEG与生长素（Aux）、赤霉素（GA）、细胞分裂素（CTK）、脱落酸（ABA）、乙烯（Eth）、油菜素内酯（BR）、水杨酸（SA）和茉莉酸（JA）相关。基因本体（GO）和京都基因与基因组百科全书（KEGG）富集分析表明，最显著富集的条目是光合天线蛋白、淀粉和蔗糖代谢以及光合作用。对DEG表达趋势的聚类分析显示，共获得25个聚类，其中16个与1至5种激素高度相关。分别从聚类21和25中系统鉴定出25个和28个核心基因。异源表达表明，所选核心基因EjHsc70促进拟南芥生长，可能参与枇杷果实的发育过程。本研究为枇杷果实发育提供了新的见解。
