MethodsMethod S1: Screening of the expressed candidate sex determinants Developing anthers at stage 1-2, which correspond to the differentiation stage of male or female androecium (see Supplementary Figure S1), were sampled from F1 sibling vines derived from an interspecific cross, A. rufa sel. Fuchu × A. chinensis sel. FCM1, named KE population (15), planted on Kagawa University, Japan (N34.28, E134.13), in 10-22 April in 2016-2017. Total RNA was extracted using the Plant RNA Reagent (Invitrogen) and purified by phenol/chloroform extraction. Two micrograms of total RNA were processed in preparation for Illumina Sequencing, according to a previous report (15). The constructed libraries were sequenced on Illumina's HiSeq 4000 sequencer (50-bp single-end or 150-bp paired-end reads). All Illumina sequencing were conducted at the Vincent J. Coates Genomics Sequencing Laboratory at UC Berkeley, and the raw sequencing reads were processed using custom Python scripts developed in the Comai laboratory and available online (http://comailab.genomecenter.ucdavis.edu/index.php/), as previously described (9). Male-specific Ychromosomal sequences in kiwifruit, defined MSY contigs, were comprehensively identified in previous study (15). The mRNA-Seq reads from each 5 male and female individuals from the KE population (Supplemental Table S11) (15) were used to identify the genes substantially expressed in developing anthers. The mRNA-Seq reads were aligned to the hypothetical 61 genes located on the 249 MSY contigs (Akagi et al. 2018), using the Burrows-Wheeler Aligner (BWA) (37) allowing up to ca 3% mismatches. The number of reads mapping to each contigs was recorded from the alignment file produced by the Sequence Alignment/Map (SAM) tool (38) (http://samtools.sourceforge.net/). For Friendly Boy (FrBy), which showed male-specific and anther-enriched expression, the expression patterns were further examined using various plant organs and developing anthers (stage 2a, 2b, 3a, and 3b, see Supplementary Figure S1). Method S2: Expression profiling in kiwifruit antherThe described mRNA-Seq reads from each 5 male and female individuals of the KE population were aligned to the whole CDS sequences sets in A. chinensis (27), using BWA with default parameters. The number of reads mapped to each reference sequences was recorded from the alignment file produced by the Sequence Alignment/Map (SAM) tool (38) (http://samtools.sourceforge.net/). The read counts per gene were generated from the aligned SAM files using a custom R script. Differential expression between male and female individuals was analysed in R (version 3.0.1) using the R package DESeq (Anders and Huber, 2010) (version 1.14; http://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/DESeq.html). We conducted DESeq analysis using 5 biological replicates from male and female individuals, with the following parameters: method='per-condition' and sharingMode='maximum'. An FDR threshold of 0.1 was used to identify differentially expressed genes. Method S3: in situ RNA hybridizationRNA in ...

During climacteric fruit ripening, autocatalytic (Type II) ethylene production initiates a transcriptional cascade that controls the production of many important fruit quality traits including flavour production and softening. The last step in ethylene biosynthesis is the conversion of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) to ethylene by the enzyme ACC oxidase (ACO). Ten independent kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) lines were generated targeting suppression of fruit ripening-related ACO genes and the fruit from one of these lines (TK2) did not produce detectable levels of climacteric ethylene. Ripening behaviour in a population of kiwifruit at harvest is asynchronous, so a short burst of exogenous ethylene was used to synchronize ripening in TK2 and control fruit. Following such a treatment, TK2 and control fruit softened to an 'eating-ripe' firmness. Control fruit produced climacteric ethylene and softened beyond eating-ripe by 5 d. In contrast, TK2 fruit maintained an eating-ripe firmness for >25 d and total volatile production was dramatically reduced. Application of continuous exogenous ethylene to the ripening-arrested TK2 fruit re-initiated fruit softening and typical ripe fruit volatiles were detected. A 17 500 gene microarray identified 401 genes that changed after ethylene treatment, including a polygalacturonase and a pectate lyase involved in cell wall breakdown, and a quinone oxidoreductase potentially involved in volatile production. Many of the gene changes were consistent with the softening and flavour changes observed after ethylene treatment. However, a surprisingly large number of genes of unknown function were also observed, which could account for the unique flavour and textural properties of ripe kiwifruit.

Summary Annualization of woody perennials has the potential to revolutionize the breeding and production of fruit crops and rapidly improve horticultural species. Kiwifruit ( Actinidia chinensis ) is a recently domesticated fruit crop with a short history of breeding and tremendous potential for improvement. Previously, multiple kiwifruit CENTRORADIALIS ( CEN )‐like genes have been identified as potential repressors of flowering. In this study, CRISPR /Cas9‐ mediated manipulation enabled functional analysis of kiwifruit CEN ‐like genes Ac CEN 4 and Ac CEN . Mutation of these genes transformed a climbing woody perennial, which develops axillary inflorescences after many years of juvenility, into a compact plant with rapid terminal flower and fruit development. The number of affected genes and alleles and severity of detected mutations correlated with the precocity and change in plant stature, suggesting that a bi‐allelic mutation of either Ac CEN 4 or Ac CEN may be sufficient for early flowering, whereas mutations affecting both genes further contributed to precocity and enhanced the compact growth habit. CRISPR /Cas9‐mediated mutagenesis of Ac CEN 4 and Ac CEN may be a valuable means to engineer Actinidia amenable for accelerated breeding, indoor farming and cultivation as an annual crop.

Anthocyanins are a group of secondary metabolites that colour fruit and flowers orange, red, purple or blue depending on a number of factors, such as the basic structure, co-pigmentation, metal ion complexation and vacuolar pH. The biosynthesis of anthocyanin is regulated at the transcriptional level by a group of transcription factors, the MYB–bHLH–WD40 (MBW) complex. In this study, the purple colouration in several kiwifruit (Actinidia) species was identified and characterised as red cyanidin-based and blue delphinidin-based anthocyanins. The differential pigmentation in the skin and flesh can be attributed to the differential ratio of cyanidin and delphinidin derivatives accumulated in the total anthocyanin profile. The expression of anthocyanin biosynthetic genes chalcone synthase (CHS), flavonoid 3-O-glucosyltransferase (F3GT), flavonoid 3′-hydroxylase (F3′H) and flavonoid 3′5′-hydroxylase (F3′5′H) is crucial for anthocyanin accumulation. However, the balance of expression of the F3′H and F3′5′H genes appears responsible for the ratio of cyanidin and delphinidin derivatives, while a lack of CHS, F3GT and MYB110 expression is responsible for a lack of total anthocyanins. The transcriptional regulation of the F3′H and F3′5′H promoters by the R2R3 MYB transcription factor MYB110 is markedly different in tobacco transient assays. When kiwifruit MYB10 or MYB110 are over-expressed in Actinidia chinensis both cyanidin-based and delphinidin-based anthocyanins are elevated, but F3′H and F3′5′H genes are not strongly correlated with MYB expression. These results suggest that the core kiwifruit anthocyanin pathway genes are dependent on characterised MYB transcription factors, while other regulatory proteins are more directly responsible for the expression of the F3′H and F3′5′H genes.

SummaryFLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) and CENTRORADIALIS (CEN) homologs have been implicated in regulation of growth, determinacy and flowering.The roles of kiwifruit FT and CEN were explored using a combination of expression analysis, protein interactions, response to temperature in high-chill and low-chill kiwifruit cultivars and ectopic expression in Arabidopsis and Actinidia.The expression and activity of FT was opposite from that of CEN and incorporated an interaction with a FLOWERING LOCUS D (FD)-like bZIP transcription factor. Accumulation of FT transcript was associated with plant maturity and particular stages of leaf, flower and fruit development, but could be detected irrespective of the flowering process and failed to induce precocious flowering in transgenic kiwifruit. Instead, transgenic plants demonstrated reduced growth and survival rate. Accumulation of FT transcript was detected in dormant buds and stem in response to winter chilling. In contrast, FD in buds was reduced by exposure to cold. CEN transcript accumulated in developing latent buds, but declined before the onset of dormancy and delayed flowering when ectopically expressed in kiwifruit.Our results suggest roles for FT, CEN and FD in integration of developmental and environmental cues that affect dormancy, budbreak and flowering in kiwifruit.