Genome-wide identification of MYB family genes potentially related to SCW biogenesis in Korla pear fruit

Abstract

The formation of fruits with a rough-skin is a physiological disorder in Korla pear (Pyrus sinkiangensis Yü) that is increasingly common in recent years. Compared with normal fruits, a main characteristic of such rough-skinned fruits is their greater stone cell content. These pear stone cells belong to the sclerenchyma formed by the secondary thicken--important functions during secondary cell wall (SCW) biosynthesis. Therefore, this work aimed to in-PbMYBs, which were further nome. The gene phylogeny and a similarity and struc-PbMYBs were closely homologous to SCW-associated MYBs in Arabidopsis. tal time course (prime, late, and stationary stage of stone cell differentiation), being homologs to the SCWrelated genes MYB20, MYB42, MYB52, MYB83, MYB85, and MYB103 in Arabidopsis ters indicated that for most of these MYBs levels peaked in the prime stage of stone cell differentiation, and then were gradually down-regulated showed that the pear homologs of AtMYB20, AtMYB42, AtMYB52, and AtMYB85 upregulated in either or both the peel and pulp of rough-skinned fruits. These results suggest these SCW-associated PbMYBs might play fundamental roles during the stone cell differentiation process in pear fruits.