Metabolome and Transcriptome Reveal Novel Formation Mechanism of Early Mature Trait in Kiwifruit (Actinidia eriantha)

Abstract

Kiwifruit (Actinidia eriantha) is a peculiar berry resource in China, and the maturation period is generally late. Fortunately, we found an early mature A. eriantha germplasm. In order to explore the formation mechanism of its early mature trait, we determined the main carbohydrate and endogenous hormone content of the fruit, and used off-target metabolomics and transcriptomics to identify key regulatory metabolites and genes. We found that early mature germplasm had faster starch conversion rate and higher sucrose, glucose, and fructose content when harvested, while with lower auxin (IAA), abscisic acid (ABA), and zeatin (ZR) content. Through the non-targeted metabolome, 19 and 20 metabolites closely related to fruit maturity and early maturity were identified, respectively. At the same time, weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) showed that these metabolites were regulated by 73 and 99 genes, respectively, especially genes related to sugar metabolism were mostly. Based on above, the formation of early mature trait of A. eriantha was mainly due to the sucrose decomposition rate was reduced and the soluble solid content (SSC) accumulated at low levels of endogenous hormones, so as to reach the harvest standard earlier than the late mature germplasm. Finally, ten single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci were developed which can be used for the identification of early mature trait of A. eriantha.

Metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses reveal the mechanism of sweet-acidic taste formation during pineapple fruit development

“…The release of the high-quality pineapple genome database paves the way for clarifying the molecular mechanisms in pineapple based on genome-wide transcriptomic analysis ( Ming et al, 2015 ; Wang L. L. et al, 2020 ). Moreover, with the advances in transcriptomic analysis approaches, a useful method such as weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) has made it possible to detect modules of coexpressed genes and key genes responsible for important traits by correlating the transcriptome data with phenotypic data, as reported in watermelon and kiwifruit with different genotypes ( Umer et al, 2020 ; Liao et al, 2021 ). In addition, although the metabolic phenotype is largely influenced by the environment and difficult to monitor accurately, a rapid and reliable metabolomics approach such as liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) can detect a range of plant metabolites with high throughput and sensitivity from different biological samples ( Hong et al, 2021 ).…”

Nutritional Component Analyses in Different Varieties of Actinidia eriantha Kiwifruit by Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Approaches

“…Metabolome and transcriptome analyses were widely used for studies of sugar, flavor, flavonoids and anthocyanin formation and early maturation traits in kiwifruit [ 13 , 39 , 40 , 41 ]. Here, we firstly investigated the nutritional components of A. eriantha based on metabolome and transcriptome sequencing, then comprehensively analyzed the main nutrient component of A. eriantha fruit, including phenolic acid, flavonoids, sugars, organic acid and AsA acid.…”

Comprehensive Analysis of Metabolome and Transcriptome in Fruits and Roots of Kiwifruit

“…For example, ‘Jinshi 1’ ( A. chinensis ) contains high levels of β-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin, and other substances that make the flesh turn yellow [ 22 ]. The flesh of ‘Ganlv 1’ ( A. eriantha ) and ‘Yongfengyihao’ ( A. arguta ) is rich in chlorophyll, which causes the flesh to appear green [ 23 , 24 ]. The flesh of ‘Hongyang’ ( A. chinensis ) is red due to high levels of anthocyanins [ 25 ].…”