Analysis of ripening-related gene expression in papaya using an Arabidopsis-based microarray

João Paulo Fabi,Beatriz Rosana Cordenunsi,Neil S Graham,Martin R Broadley,Franco Maria Lajolo,João Roberto Oliveira Do Nascimento,Graham B Seymour,Sean T May

doi:10.1186/1471-2229-12-242

João Paulo Fabi, Beatriz Rosana Cordenunsi + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2229-12-242

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Abstract

BackgroundPapaya (Carica papaya L.) is a commercially important crop that produces climacteric fruits with a soft and sweet pulp that contain a wide range of health promoting phytochemicals. Despite its importance, little is known about transcriptional modifications during papaya fruit ripening and their control. In this study we report the analysis of ripe papaya transcriptome by using a cross-species (XSpecies) microarray technique based on the phylogenetic proximity between papaya and Arabidopsis thaliana.ResultsPapaya transcriptome analyses resulted in the identification of 414 ripening-related genes with some having their expression validated by qPCR. The transcription profile was compared with that from ripening tomato and grape. There were many similarities between papaya and tomato especially with respect to the expression of genes encoding proteins involved in primary metabolism, regulation of transcription, biotic and abiotic stress and cell wall metabolism. XSpecies microarray data indicated that transcription factors (TFs) of the MADS-box, NAC and AP2/ERF gene families were involved in the control of papaya ripening and revealed that cell wall-related gene expression in papaya had similarities to the expression profiles seen in Arabidopsis during hypocotyl development.ConclusionThe cross-species array experiment identified a ripening-related set of genes in papaya allowing the comparison of transcription control between papaya and other fruit bearing taxa during the ripening process.

Highlights

Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is a commercially important crop that produces climacteric fruits with a soft and sweet pulp that contain a wide range of health promoting phytochemicals
Clusters I, II and III was composed by genes with high levels of expression while clusters VI and VIII enclosed genes with the lowest levels of expression during papaya ripening
The heterologous hybridization microarray was successfully applied in the study of transcripts changes associated to papaya fruit, a commercially relevant crop from a non-model organism

Summary

Introduction

Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is a commercially important crop that produces climacteric fruits with a soft and sweet pulp that contain a wide range of health promoting phytochemicals. In this study we report the analysis of ripe papaya transcriptome by using a cross-species (XSpecies) microarray technique based on the phylogenetic proximity between papaya and Arabidopsis thaliana. Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is an important crop cultivated in tropical and subtropical areas and the ripe fruit has a soft and sweet pulp with high amounts of provitamin A and antioxidants [1]. A cross-species (XSpecies) microarray is an alternative approach that has been successfully used to study the transcriptomes of non-model organisms [11,12]

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