Acta Agriculturae Zhejiangensis ›› 2025, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (6): 1244-1251.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-1524.20240543

• Horticultural Science • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Genome-wide association study and candidate gene prediction of pectin content of pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata)

TAO Peng1(), DING Xiaoya1,2, YUE Zhichen1, ZHAO Yanting1, LEI Juanli1, HU Qizan1, ZANG Yunxiang2, LI Biyuan1,*()   

  1. 1. Institute of Vegetables, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China
    2. College of Horticulture Science, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China
  • Received:2024-06-24 Online:2025-06-25 Published:2025-07-08

Abstract:

To investigate the genetic regulatory mechanisms of pectin content in pumpkin and identify key genes, and provide a theoretical basis for the genetic improvement of pumpkin fruit texture quality, pectin content of 208 pumpkin germplasm resources was determined using sulfuric acid-carbazole method, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted by integrating the pectin content data with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) obtained from whole-genome resequencing, candidate gene screening and functional annotation were performed in the significantly associated genomic regions. The results revealed that pumpkin pectin content followed a normal distribution, 21 SNPs significantly associated with pumpkin pectin content were identified on chromosomes 2, 4, 12, and 20, with 13 significant SNPs located in 8330664-8436445 on chromosome 2. Totally, 40 candidate genes were screened, with three genes (gene ID were CmoCh02G014160, CmoCh02G014170 and CmoCh02G014260) annotated to be involved in sugar metabolism pathways. These three candidate genes had a large number of SNP and InDel variations in the pumpkin germplasm resources, and were expressed in pumpkin fruits, they may be involved in pectin biosynthesis in pumpkin fruits. This study can provides new molecular markers and candidate genes for optimizing pectin content and improving pumpkin quality through genetic breeding.

Key words: pumpkin, pectin, genome-wide association study, gene, sugar metabolism

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