Abstract
BackgroundFruit cracking occurs easily under unsuitable environmental conditions and is one of the main types of damage that occurs in fruit production. It is widely accepted that plants have developed defence mechanisms and regulatory networks that respond to abiotic stress, which involves perceiving, integrating and responding to stress signals by modulating the expression of related genes. Fruit cracking is also a physiological disease caused by abiotic stress. It has been reported that a single or several genes may regulate fruit cracking. However, almost none of these reports have involved cracking regulatory networks.ResultsHere, RNA expression in 0 h, 8 h and 30 h saturated irrigation-treated fruits from two contrasting tomato genotypes, ‘LA1698’ (cracking-resistant, CR) and ‘LA2683’ (cracking-susceptible, CS), was analysed by mRNA and lncRNA sequencing. The GO pathways of the differentially expressed mRNAs were mainly enriched in the ‘hormone metabolic process’, ‘cell wall organization’, ‘oxidoreductase activity’ and ‘catalytic activity’ categories. According to the gene expression analysis, significantly differentially expressed genes included Solyc02g080530.3 (Peroxide, POD), Solyc01g008710.3 (Mannan endo-1,4-beta-mannosidase, MAN), Solyc08g077910.3 (Expanded, EXP), Solyc09g075330.3 (Pectinesterase, PE), Solyc07g055990.3 (Xyloglucan endotransglucosylase-hydrolase 7, XTH7), Solyc12g011030.2 (Xyloglucan endotransglucosylase-hydrolase 9, XTH9), Solyc10g080210.2 (Polygalacturonase-2, PG2), Solyc08g081010.2 (Gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase, gamma-GCS), Solyc09g008720.2 (Ethylene receptor, ER), Solyc11g042560.2 (Ethylene-responsive transcription factor 4, ERF4) etc. In addition, the lncRNAs (XLOC_16662 and XLOC_033910, etc) regulated the expression of their neighbouring genes, and genes related to tomato cracking were selected to construct a lncRNA-mRNA network influencing tomato cracking.ConclusionsThis study provides insight into the responsive network for water-induced cracking in tomato fruit. Specifically, lncRNAs regulate the hormone-redox-cell wall network, including plant hormone (auxin, ethylene) and ROS (H2O2) signal transduction and many cell wall-related mRNAs (EXP, PG, XTH), as well as some lncRNAs (XLOC_16662 and XLOC_033910, etc.).
Highlights
Fruit cracking occurs under unsuitable environmental conditions and is one of the main types of damage that occurs in fruit production
It is widely accepted that plants have developed defence mechanisms and regulatory networks to respond to abiotic stress, which involve perceiving, integrating and responding to stress signals by modulating the expression of related genes [3,4,5,6,7,8]
The results showed that the Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were mainly enriched in the ‘biosynthesis of secondary metabolites’, ‘cysteine and methionine metabolism’, ‘metabolic pathways’, ‘plant-pathogen interaction’, ‘photosynthesisantenna protein’, ‘photosynthesis’, ‘histidine metabolism’ and ‘circadian rhythm-plant’ categories
Summary
Fruit cracking occurs under unsuitable environmental conditions and is one of the main types of damage that occurs in fruit production. Fruit cracking is a physiological disease caused by abiotic stress. It has been reported that a single or several genes may regulate fruit cracking. Almost none of these reports have involved cracking regulatory networks. Fruit cracking occurs under unsuitable environmental conditions. Under abiotic stress caused by dry to very wet conditions, there will be a rapid flow into the fruit, and if the skin loses strength and elasticity due to factors such as maturation, cracking is most likely to occur [2]. Fruit cracking is a kind of physiological disease caused by abiotic stress. Is there a regulatory network involved in fruit cracking?
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