RNA-seq based analysis of transcriptomic changes associated with ABA-induced postharvest cold tolerance in zucchini fruit
Metadata
Show full item recordEditorial
Elsevier
Materia
ABA Cold tolerance Chilling injury (CI) Postharvest RNA sequencing
Date
2022-07-09Referencia bibliográfica
Álvaro Benítez... [et al.]. RNA-seq based analysis of transcriptomic changes associated with ABA-induced postharvest cold tolerance in zucchini fruit, Postharvest Biology and Technology, Volume 192, 2022, 112023, ISSN 0925-5214, [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postharvbio.2022.112023]
Sponsorship
Spanish Government AGL2017-82885-C2-1-R PID2020-118080RB-C21 PID2020-118080RB-C22; Junta de Andalucia P20_00327 UAL18-BIO-B017-B P20_00327 UAL18-BIO-B017-B; University of Almeri Hipatia project of the UAL; Spanish Government UAL18-BIO-B017-B DIN2018-010127B04835633Abstract
Given that external treatments with ABA had been proved to alleviate chilling injury in the immature zucchini
fruit, an RNAseq analysis was conducted to gain insight into the molecular mechanisms that are involved in ABAinduced
postharvest cold tolerance. Fruit from the cold sensitive cultivar Sinatra were treated with ABA and then
stored for 14 d at 4 ºC. Exocarp samples from control and ABA-treated fruit were taken at 1, 5 and 14 d of cold
storage, assessing the transcriptional changes during postharvest storage relative to freshly harvested fruit. The
RNAseq analysis produced 229 million high-quality reads from a total of about 23,000 unigenes. Pairwise
comparisons of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in treated and untreated samples at each cold storage time
resulted in 852, 793 and 1120 DEGs that were specifically found in the ABA-treated but not in the control fruit at
either 1, 5 or 14 d of cold storage. This ABA-specific DEG list was subjected to a GO and KEGG enrichment
analysis, as well as to a clusterization of gene expression profiles. This revealed the significance of certain
metabolic and signaling pathways participating in ABA-induced postharvest cold tolerance, highlighting the
relevance of the Ca2+ signaling pathway, as well as the positive regulation mediated by certain hormones such as
ethylene and jasmonate, and the negative regulation mediated by others like auxins and brassinosteroids. A
number of DEGs were also found in the ABA-treated fruit that code for transcription factors, as well as for genes
involved in oxidative stress response and in membrane and cell wall metabolism. Data indicates that ABAinduced
cold tolerance is not mediated by CBF-like genes but involve the up- and down-regulation of several
transcription factors in the BZIP, GRAS, MYB, MYC, NAC and ZAT families that are known to participate as
positive and negative regulators in the cold defensive response. Moreover, ABA regulates different genes
responsible for reducing oxidative stress damage, inducing the biosynthesis of cuticular wax and repressing the
biosynthesis of lignin, as well as protecting membrane and cell wall integrity in fruit cells during postharvest cold
storage.