Comparative transcriptome analyses of a late-ripening mandarin mutant and its original cultivar reveals gene expression profiling associated with citrus fruit ripening

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1 State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources/Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops-South China, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China
2 Yunnan Key Laboratory for Wild Plant Resources/Key Laboratory for Economic Plants and Biotechnology, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.2744v2
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Agricultural Science, Biotechnology, Molecular Biology, Plant Science
Keywords
Citrus reticulata Blanco, RNA-Seq, late-ripening, NCED1, gene expression
Copyright
© 2017 Lu et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Lu W, Qingzhu H, Yuewen M, Guibing H, Yonghua Q. 2017. Comparative transcriptome analyses of a late-ripening mandarin mutant and its original cultivar reveals gene expression profiling associated with citrus fruit ripening. PeerJ Preprints 5:e2744v2

Abstract

Characteristics of late maturity in fruits are good agronomic traits for extending the harvest period and marketing time. However, underlying molecular basis of the late-maturing mechanism in fruit is largely unknown. In this study, RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) technology was used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to late-maturing characteristics from a late-maturing mutant ‘Huawan Wuzishatangju’ (HWWZSTJ) (Citrus reticulata Blanco) and its original line ‘Wuzishatangju’ (WZSTJ). A total of approximately 17.0 Gb and 84.2 M paried-end reads were obtained. DEGs were significantly enriched in the pathway of photosynthesis, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, carotenoid biosynthesis, chlorophyll and abscisic acid (ABA) metabolism. Thirteen candidate transcripts related to chlorophyll metabolism, carotenoid biosynthesis and ABA metabolism were analyzed using real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) at all fruit maturing stages of HWWZSTJ and WZSTJ. Chlorophyllase (CLH) and divinyl reductase (DVR) from chlorophyll metabolism, phytoene synthase (PSY) and capsanthin/capsorubin synthase (CCS) from carotenoid biosynthesis, abscisic acid 8'-hydroxylase (AB1) and 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED1) from ABA metabolism were cloned and analyzed. The expression pattern of NCED1 indicates its role in the late-maturing characteristics of HWWZSTJ. There were 270 consecutive bases missing in HWWZSTJ in comparison with full-length sequences of NCED1 cDNA from WZSTJ. Those results suggested that NCED1 might play an important role in late maturity of HWWZSTJ. This study provides new information of complex process that results in late maturity of Citrus fruit at the transcriptional level.

Author Comment

The manuscript has been revised as per reviewers' comments.

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