Abstract
Cold storage is the primary preservation method of postharvest loquat fruits. However, cold storage also results in many chilling injury physiological disorders called lignification, which decreases the quality and economic value of the fruits. Few studies to date have focused on the transcriptomic responses associated with lignification except lignin synthesis pathways. This study aimed to explore the changes of loquat transcriptome during long-term cold storage. Our results showed that the gene expression patterns were differed among the five stages. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in response to cold storage were more intense and complex in earlier stage. The membrane-related genes preferentially responded to low temperature and were followed by intracellular-located genes. The cold-induced pathways were mainly concerned with signal transduction and secondary metabolism (i.e., lignin, pectin, cellulose, terpenoid, carotenoid, steroid) in the first three stages and were chiefly related to primary metabolism in the later two stages, especially energy metabolism. Further investigation suggested that 503 protein kinases, 106 protein phosphatases, and 40 Ca2+ signal components were involved in the cold signal transduction of postharvest loquat fruits. We predicted a pathway including 649 encoding genes of 49 enzymes, which displayed the metabolisms of major sugars and polysaccharides in cold-stored loquat fruits. The coordinated expression patterns of these genes might contribute to the changes of saccharides in the pathway. These results provide new insight into the transcriptomic changes of postharvest loquat fruits in response to cold storage environment, which may be helpful for improving the postharvest life of loquat in the future.
Highlights
Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) is a subtropical and evergreen fruit tree native to China.Its fruits both have edible value for supplying luscious tastes and abundant nutrients and medicinal value for relieving cough and asthma in traditional Chinese medicine [1]
Fruit lignification was rarely reported in other cold storage fruits and loquat fruit has become the model for researching fruit lignification
The results suggested that the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in response to cold storage environment were more complex in earlier stage, including oxidoreductase, reversible protein phosphorylation, glycosyl hydrolase, binding, transmembrane transporter, glutamate synthase, and polyamine metabolism related genes
Summary
Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) is a subtropical and evergreen fruit tree native to China. Its fruits both have edible value for supplying luscious tastes and abundant nutrients and medicinal value for relieving cough and asthma in traditional Chinese medicine [1]. Cold storage results in many chilling-injury phenomena, including stuck peel, hard texture, crude mouthfeel, less juice, weight loss, internal browning, and weak flavor. It is called lignification and decreases the quality and economic value of the fruits [2,3,4]. Fruit lignification was rarely reported in other cold storage fruits and loquat fruit has become the model for researching fruit lignification
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