Exploring the versatility of sesquiterpene biosynthesis in guava plants: a comparative genome-wide analysis of two cultivars

Psidium guajava L., a fruit crop belonging to the Myrtaceae family, is highly valued for its nutritional and medicinal properties. The family exhibits a diverse chemical profile of essential oils and serves as a valuable resource due to its ecological interactions, adaptability, and dispersal capacity. The Myrtaceae family has been extensively studied for its terpenoids. Genetic studies have focused on foliar terpene yield in species from the Eucalypteae and Melaleucaceae tribes. To understand the evolutionary trends in guava breeding, this study predicted terpene synthase genes (TPS) from different cultivars. Through this analysis, 43 full-length TPS genes were identified, and approximately 77% of them exhibited relative expression in at least one of the five investigated plant tissues (root, leaf, bud, flower, and fruit) of two guava cultivars. We identified intra-species variation in the terpene profile and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in twelve TPS genes, resulting in the clustering of 62 genotypes according to their essential oil chemotypes. The high concentration of sesquiterpenes is supported by the higher number of TPS-a genes and their expression. The expansion for TPS sub-families in P. guajava occurred after the expansion of other rosids species. Providing insight into the origin of structural diversification and expansion in each clade of the TPS gene family within Myrtaceae. This study can provide insights into the diversity of genes for specialized metabolites such as terpenes, and their regulation, which can lead to a diverse chemotype of essential oil in different tissues and genotypes. This suggests a mode of enzymatic evolution that could lead to high sesquiterpene production, act as a chemical defense and contribute to the adaptive capacity of this species to different habitats.