Wounding tomato fruit elicits ripening-stage specific changes in gene expression and production of volatile compounds

Abstract

SummaryAs tomato fruit ripen, the wounding-elicited transcriptome and VOC profiles alter. This shift is consistent with a change from protection of developing seeds to attraction of frugivores for seed dispersal.

Genome-Wide Identification and Evaluation of Reference Genes for Quantitative RT-PCR Analysis during Tomato Fruit Development

“…Therefore, the identification of suitable RGs for specific experimental conditions is essential for avoiding unnecessary error in the qRCR experimental results. So far, many studies involving the identification or evaluation of tomato RGs under various experimental conditions, including biotic/abiotic stresses ( Cucumber mosaic virus, tobacco mosaic virus, bacterium Xanthomonas campestris , nitrogen stress, cold, light stress) (Coker and Davies, 2003 ; Løvdal and Lillo, 2009 ; Mascia et al, 2010 ; Wieczorek et al, 2013 ; Müller et al, 2015 ) and different organs/tissues (Leaf, fruit, flower, and seed) (Exposito-Rodriguez et al, 2008 ; Dekkers et al, 2012 ; Gao et al, 2012 ; Baldassarre et al, 2015 ), had been conducted. For example, SlACT, SlCAC , and SlEF1 α were validated to be suitable RGs in studies of host-virus interactions in tomato (Wieczorek et al, 2013 ).…”

“…Exposito-Rodriguez et al ( 2008 ) found that the widely used RGs, such as SlCAC, SlTIP41, Expressed , and SlSAND , provide superior transcript normalization in various tissues of tomato (Exposito-Rodriguez et al, 2008 ). When studying the changes of gene expression in the wounded ripening-stage tomato fruit, Baldassarre et al ( 2015 ) selected two most stably expressed RGs ( EF1- α and GADPH ) from seven routine used HKGs for normalization in the subsequent qPCR analysis. Thus, it occurred to us that although tomato is regarded as model plant for fruit development study, little attention has yet been paid to screen the best RGs specifically for normalization during the development of tomato fruit.…”

“…So far, most studies involving RG identification were based on the evaluation or validation of the expression stabilities of traditional or novel RGs under corresponding conditions (Czechowski et al, 2005 ; Løvdal and Lillo, 2009 ; Schmidt and Delaney, 2010 ; Dekkers et al, 2012 ; Baldassarre et al, 2015 ). In the present study, we collected 70 putative RGs that had been previously reported in tomato (Coker and Davies, 2003 ; Exposito-Rodriguez et al, 2008 ; Løvdal and Lillo, 2009 ; Mascia et al, 2010 ; Müller et al, 2015 ) and 11 orthologs of reported RGs in watermelon fruit study (Kong et al, 2015 ), and subsequently validated their expression stabilities during different stages of fruit development according to the RPKM values derived from RNA-seq data sets.…”

“…Over the decades, a good number of stably expressed RGs have specifically been identified for normalization in the fruits of several fruit crops, such as papaya (Zhu et al, 2012 ), blueberry (Die and Rowland, 2013 ), and watermelon (Kong et al, 2015 ). For tomato, although suitable RGs have been identified under different experimental conditions including biotic/abiotic stresses (Løvdal and Lillo, 2009 ; Mascia et al, 2010 ) and various tissues of different developmental stages (Suzuki et al, 2000 ; Dekkers et al, 2012 ), very limited number of RGs in tomato fruit have been characterized so far (Coker and Davies, 2003 ; Baldassarre et al, 2015 ). Moreover, we noticed that most studies involving RG identification, including those relevant to tomato fruit developmental studies, were mainly based on the evaluation or validation of some already known candidate RGs (Mostly HKGs), which are convenient for implementation but also greatly limit the choice of best RGs.…”

Spatially resolved metabolic distribution for unraveling the physiological change and responses in tomato fruit using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization–mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI–MSI)

“…Their concentrations will dramatically and spatiotemporally change during growing and ripening processes [ 1 – 3 ]. Both biotic and abiotic stresses also trigger concentration changes, which lead to whole-tissue physiological changes, such as alterations in color and taste during the ripening process, or more local and partial responses, such as morphological changes induced by wounding and pest-associated stresses [ 4 , 5 ]. These events are strictly regulated, and alterations in metabolic dynamics occur as the result of a wide range of biochemical processes, including enzymatic or non-enzymatic reactions [ 6 – 8 ].…”