Abstract
BackgroundIn nature, green apple are associated with the accumulation of chlorophyll, while red apple varieties are associated with anthocyanins accumulation. Notably, in this study, the green skin color apple variety ‘white winter pearmain’ treated with ultraviolet-B (UV-B) exhibited red skins and marked anthocyanin accumulation, while visible light could not. But there are few reports on the biosynthesis difference of anthocyanins in green apple by visible light and UV-B-treatment. Here, we explored the difference of metabolites and genes expression level in green apple by transcriptomic and metabolic.ResultsThe metabolic analysis revealed that there were 152 and 178 significantly changed metabolites in the visible light and UV-B-treated green apple, respectively, compared to the control, and flavone, flavonol, and anthocyanin were the most significantly increased; and transcriptomic analysis showed that 37,110 and 37,709 differentially expressed genes, including 382 and 475 transcription factors (TFs) were detected in light and UV-B-treatment fruit, respectively. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) results confirmed changes in the expression levels of genes encoding metabolites involved in the flavonoid synthesis pathways. The flavonoid metabolic flux in the UV-B treatment increased the accumulation of cyanidin 3-glucoside and cyanidin 3, 5-diglucoside compared to under the light-treatment. Furthermore, we performed qRT-PCR analysis of anthocyanin biosynthesis genes and predicted the gene of MD00G1134400 (a UDP glucose-flavonoid 3–0-glucosyltransferase) may be a candidate gene for anthocyanins accumulation and highly expressed in UV-B-treatment fruit. Expression profiles of several transcription factors of the families MYB, bHLH, NAC were highly correlated with the content of the anthocyanin.ConclusionsThe composition and contents of anthocyanins in green apple in UV-B-treatment very greatly. A series of metabolites and candidate genes were revealed through combined analysis of metabolome and transcriptome. These results provide an important data for dissecting candidate genes and molecular basis governing green apple color formation in response to visible light and UV-B light.
Highlights
In nature, green apple are associated with the accumulation of chlorophyll, while red apple varieties are associated with anthocyanins accumulation
The results showed that most of the Transcription factors (TF) and light signal transduction related genes of light, UV‐B‐responsive Three hundred eighty-two differentially expressed transcription factors belonging to 52 TF families, and 475 differentially expressed transcription factors belonging to 59 TF families were identified in the light-treatment and the UV-B treatment compared with CK, respectively, and 346 differentially expressed transcription factors belonging to 48 TF families were identified in the UV-B treatment compared with light-treatment (Table S5)
Using an integrated analysis of the differential metabolites and genes expression levels, we identified the metabolites involved in responses to visible light and UV-B, and further analyzed the differential expression of genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis using Quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR)
Summary
Green apple are associated with the accumulation of chlorophyll, while red apple varieties are associated with anthocyanins accumulation. In this study, the green skin color apple variety ‘white winter pearmain’ treated with ultraviolet-B (UV-B) exhibited red skins and marked anthocyanin accumulation, while visible light could not. In recent years, red apple have attracted the attention of consumers due to their attractive appearance and their reported nutritional value [1, 2]. Red apple varieties such as ‘Fuji’ [3] and ‘Fortune’ [4] can synthesize high numbers of anthocyanins and are preferred by. To date, the effect of visible light and UV-B on coloration of red skin color and green skin color apple fruit, and their molecular foundation is rarely studied
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
