Acta Agriculturae Zhejiangensis ›› 2023, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (11): 2600-2610.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-1524.20221604

• Horticultural Science • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Identification of 4CL gene family in peach and its expression analysis in fruit coloration during development stage and chilling injury during post-harvest low temperature storage

KONG Fanwang1,2(), ZHANG Zhigang2, LI Wei2, CHEN Yufeng2, WANG Changjiang2, ZHENG Yaqin1, XU Meng1,*()   

  1. 1. College of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Linyi University, Linyi 276000, Shandong, China
    2. Zoucheng Natural Resources and Planning Bureau, Jining 273500, Shandong, China
  • Received:2022-11-11 Online:2023-11-25 Published:2023-12-04

Abstract:

4CL (4-coumarate: CoA ligase) plays an important role in the metabolism of phenylalanine compounds such as flavonoids and lignin. In this study, the peach 4CL gene family members were systematically identified based on the peach genome database, and the structure and possible functions of the peach 4CLs were analyzed using the genetic family evolutionary analysis, combing transcriptome data and qRT-PCR techniques to analyze their functions in flavonoids synthesis at the fruit development stage and chilling-induced lignification regulation at postharvest. The results showed that 21 members of the 4CL gene family, namely Pp4CL1-Pp4CL21, were identified on 8 chromosomes based on the peach genome database. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Pp4CL1 and Pp4CL2 belong to the first subfamily, mainly involved in the synthesis of lignin, and Pp4CL3-Pp4CL21 belongs to the second subfamily, mainly involved in the synthesis of flavonoids. The cis-element analysis of the 4CL promoters found that it contains a large number of abiotic stress and MeJA-responsive and other hormone response elements. The gene expression of different peach varieties at the development stage showed that Pp4CL8 and Pp4CL13 increased generally, and higher expression was observed in blood-flesh varieties than in yellow-and milk-white-flesh varieties, suggesting that these genes may participate in the fruit flavonoids synthesis. The gene expression of peach fruit during post-harvest cold storage showed that Pp4CL2 may play a role in the chilling-induced lignification of fruit flesh after harvest. After low temperature conditioning (LTC) treatment, Pp4CL8, Pp4CL10 and Pp4CL14 may reduce the chilling injury of peach fruit during post-harvest cold storage by improving flavonoids content. This study provides a theoretical basis for the coloration of peach fruit and its postharvest preservation.

Key words: peach, lignin, flavonoids, gene expression

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