Regulation of pepper fruit color, chloroplasts development and their importance in fruit quality

Abstract

Pepper exhibits large natural variation in chlorophyll content in the immature fruit. To dissect the genetic and molecular basis of this variation, we conducted QTL mapping for chlorophyll content in a cross between light and dark green-fruited parents, PI 152225 and 1154. Two major QTLs, pc1 and pc10, that control chlorophyll content by modulation of chloroplast compartment size in a fruit-specific manner were detected in chromosomes 1 and 10, respectively. The pepper homolog of GOLDEN2- LIKE transcription factor (CaGLK2) was found as underlying pc10, similar to its effect on tomato fruit chloroplast development. A candidate gene for pc1was found as controlling chlorophyll content in pepper by the modulation of chloroplast size and number. Fine mapping of pc1 aided by bulked DNA and RNA-seq analyses enabled the identification of a zinc finger transcription factor LOL1 (LSD-One-Like 1) as a candidate gene underlying pc1. LOL1 is a positive regulator of oxidative stress- induced cell death in Arabidopsis. However, over expression of the rice ortholog resulted in an increase of chlorophyll content. Interestingly, CaAPRR2 that is linked to the QTL and was found to affect immature pepper fruit color in a previous study, did not have a significant effect on chlorophyll content in the present study. Verification of the candidate's function was done by generating CRISPR/Cas9 knockout mutants of the orthologues tomato gene, while its knockout experiment in pepper by genome editing is under progress. Phenotypic similarity as a consequence of disrupting the transcription factor in both pepper and tomato indicated its functional conservation in controlling chlorophyll content in the Solanaceae. A limited sequence diversity study indicated that null mutations in CaLOL1 and its putative interactorCaMIP1 are present in C. chinensebut not in C. annuum. Combinations of mutations in CaLOL1, CaMIP1, CaGLK2 and CaAPRR2 are required for the creation of the extreme variation in chlorophyll content in Capsicum.