Abstract
Strawberry fruits (Fragaria vesca) are valued for their sweet fruity flavor, juicy texture, and characteristic red color caused by anthocyanin pigments. To gain a deeper insight into the regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis, we performed comparative metabolite profiling and transcriptome analyses of one red-fruited and two natural white-fruited strawberry varieties in two tissues and three ripening stages. Developing fruit of the three genotypes showed a distinctive pattern of polyphenol accumulation already in green receptacle and achenes. Global analysis of the transcriptomes revealed that the ripening process in the white-fruited varieties is already affected at an early developmental stage. Key polyphenol genes showed considerably lower transcript levels in the receptacle and achenes of both white genotypes, compared to the red genotype. The expression of the anthocyanidin glucosyltransferase gene and a glutathione S-transferase, putatively involved in the vacuolar transport of the anthocyanins, seemed to be critical for anthocyanin formation. A bHLH transcription factor is among the differentially expressed genes as well. Furthermore, genes associated with flavor formation and fruit softening appear to be coordinately regulated and seem to interact with the polyphenol biosynthesis pathway. This study provides new information about polyphenol biosynthesis regulators in strawberry, and reveals genes unknown to affect anthocyanin formation.
Highlights
Strawberry fruits (Fragaria vesca) are valued for their sweet fruity flavor, juicy texture, and characteristic red color caused by anthocyanin pigments
Untargeted and targeted metabolite analyses of phenols, phenylpropanoids, flavonoids, proanthocyanidins, and anthocyanins were performed by liquid-chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry analysis (LC-MS) in receptacles and achenes of green, intermediate and ripe fruits of F. vesca Reine des Vallees (RdV), Yellow Wonder (YW) and Hawaii 4 (HW4) (Figs 2 and 3). 271 untargeted metabolites showed variance between the three genotypes (p-value ≤ 0.01)
Their analysis uncovered much lower variance in the data sets of the metabolites found in the achenes of RdV, YW, and HW4 than in the data of the receptacles (Fig. 2)
Summary
Strawberry fruits (Fragaria vesca) are valued for their sweet fruity flavor, juicy texture, and characteristic red color caused by anthocyanin pigments. To gain a deeper insight into the regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis, we performed comparative metabolite profiling and transcriptome analyses of one red-fruited and two natural white-fruited strawberry varieties in two tissues and three ripening stages. In contrast to the red-fruited F. vesca genotypes, there are varieties that produce white fruits, even when they are fully ripened This is not the result of continuous breeding or genetic modification, but a naturally occurring phenomenon. In order to gain a deeper insight into the regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis, we performed comparative metabolite profiling and transcriptome analysis of one red-fruited To survey gene expression during fruit development we performed RNA-Seq on green, intermediate and ripe (white-ripe and red-ripe, respectively) fruits, and separated the achenes (seeds) from the receptacle (pulp). To determine the metabolic differences between the three genotypes, the level of anthocyanins and relevant precursors were analyzed by LC-MS, and the expression pattern of candidate genes was validated by qPCR
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