Comparative transcriptome analyses shed light on carotenoid production and plastid development in melon fruit
Carotenoids, such as β-carotene, accumulate in chromoplasts of various fleshy fruits, awarding them with colors, aromas, and nutrients. The Orange ( CmOr ) gene controls β-carotene accumulation in melon fruit by posttranslationally enhancing carotenogenesis and repressing β-carotene turnover in chro...
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Veröffentlicht in: | Horticulture research 2021-05, Vol.8 (1), p.112, Article 112 |
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Zusammenfassung: | Carotenoids, such as β-carotene, accumulate in chromoplasts of various fleshy fruits, awarding them with colors, aromas, and nutrients. The
Orange
(
CmOr
) gene controls β-carotene accumulation in melon fruit by posttranslationally enhancing carotenogenesis and repressing β-carotene turnover in chromoplasts. Carotenoid isomerase (CRTISO) isomerizes yellow prolycopene into red lycopene, a prerequisite for further metabolism into β-carotene. We comparatively analyzed the developing fruit transcriptomes of orange-colored melon and its two isogenic EMS-induced mutants,
low-β
(
Cmor
) and
yofi
(
Cmcrtiso
). The
Cmor
mutation in
low-β
caused a major transcriptomic change in the mature fruit. In contrast, the
Cmcrtiso
mutation in
yofi
significantly changed the transcriptome only in early fruit developmental stages. These findings indicate that melon fruit transcriptome is primarily altered by changes in carotenoid metabolic flux and plastid conversion, but minimally by carotenoid composition in the ripe fruit. Clustering of the differentially expressed genes into functional groups revealed an association between fruit carotenoid metabolic flux with the maintenance of the photosynthetic apparatus in fruit chloroplasts. Moreover, large numbers of thylakoid localized photosynthetic genes were differentially expressed in
low-β
. CmOR family proteins were found to physically interact with light-harvesting chlorophyll a–b binding proteins, suggesting a new role of CmOR for chloroplast maintenance in melon fruit. This study brings more insights into the cellular and metabolic processes associated with fruit carotenoid accumulation in melon fruit and reveals a new maintenance mechanism of the photosynthetic apparatus for plastid development. |
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ISSN: | 2662-6810 2052-7276 |
DOI: | 10.1038/s41438-021-00547-6 |