Transcriptome analysis unravels an ethylene response factor involved in regulating fruit ripening in pear

Abstract

Ethylene response factor (ERF) has been widely studied in regulating fruit ripening in tomato, apple, banana and kiwifruit, but little is known in pear. In this study 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treatment, an inhibitor of ethylene perception, was conducted at approximately 30 days before harvest to delay fruit ripening in a climacteric white pear cultivar Yali. Transcriptome libraries were constructed and sequenced in pre-ripening, ripening, and 1-MCP treated fruits. Data analysis showed that 73 candidate genes related to fruit ripening were induced by 1-MCP, among which two were positively related, namely 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxyla oxidase and an ERF gene (designated as ACO54 and ERF24). Transient transformations in pear fruit revealed that over-expression of ACO54 enhance transcription level of ERF24 and most ripening-related genes. Meanwhile, over-expression of ERF24 raises expression level of ACO54 and partially ripening-related genes. Moreover, dual-luciferase and yeast-one-hybrid assays unravel an interaction between ERF24 and the ACO54 promoter. Therefore, the ERF24 could directly regulate ACO54 expression by binding to its promoter. These results suggested that the first identified ERF24 is involved in regulating fruit ripening in Chinese white pear.

Genome-wide analysis of polygalacturonase gene family from pear genome and identification of the member involved in pear softening

“…As final response gene in the ethylene signaling pathway, ERF could bind to the promoters of several genes, such as ACO , PME, and PG , regulating ethylene formation and quality alternation [12, 13]; meanwhile, the impact of ERFs on the ripening were diverse [10]. Based on bioinformatic analysis, GCC-box, which ERF could bind to [12], was observed in the promoters of PbrPG6 (Additional file 2: Table S8), suggesting that PbrERF might regulate the expression of PbrPG6. During ‘Housui’ pear storage, 100 PbrERFs were expressed, with diverse expression patterns (Fig.…”

“…Mutation of an ethylene receptor, Never-ripe ( Nr ), suppressed the ripening process of tomato fruit; furthermore, the expression of 37% genes was altered in transgenic fruit, causing distinct seed number, ascorbate & carotenoid abundance [11]. As the final response gene in the ethylene signaling pathway, ethylene response factors (ERFs) trigger an ethylene response and regulate fruit ripening by binding to the promoters of several ripening-related genes, such as pectin methylesterase ( PME ), 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid oxidase ( ACO ), and PG [10, 12, 13]. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) demonstrated a specific binding of CpERF9 to the promoters of CpPG5 and CpPME1/2 in papaya, via the GCC-box motif [13].…”

RNA‐Seq analysis unveils gene regulation of fruit size cooperatively determined by velocity and duration of fruit swelling in peach

“…First‐strand cDNA was synthetized from total RNA using TransScript One‐Step gDNA Removal and cDNA synthesis Supermix (TransGen, Beijing, China). quantitative real‐time PCR (qRT‐PCR) was carried out as previously reported (Hao et al ). The reaction mixture without cDNA template was assigned as a negative control, and a constitutive control was selected from reported reference genes (Tong et al ) with the strongest expression stabilities tested from transcriptome data.…”

Transcriptome profiling of ‘Kyoho’ grape at different stages of berry development following 5-azaC treatment

“…Transcriptome sequencing is the main technology for investigating genome-wide changes in gene expression patterns, and has been used to study metabolic pathways and gene expression during fruit development in many plants. Most of the research has focused on climacteric fruits such as bayberry [3], pear [4,5], kiwifruit [6], peach [7], tomato [8], and apricot [9], although recent studies have also investigated non-climacteric fruits such as sweet orange [10] and strawberry [11]. For example, cell wall biosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and carotenoid biosynthesis were shown to be differentially regulated during fruit development and ripening of the sweet orange variety 'Anliu' and its redfleshed mutant 'Hong Anliu' [10].…”