Effects of Melatonin on the Fruit Softening and Ethylene Synthesis of Post-harvest Oriental Melon

doi:10.13560/j.cnki.biotech.bull.1985.2023-1099

Abstract

Abstract:

【Objective】Melatonin plays an important role in post-harvest fruit preservation. To explore the efects of melatonin on the fruit softening and ethylene synthesis of post-harvest oriental melon.【Method】The fruit（Cucumis melo cv. ‘Huaguniang’）were soaked at 0,100, 200, 300, 400 μmol/L melatonin solution, by measuring the firmness, weight loss, decay rate, and endogenous ethylene production, the optimal concentration was selected. At the optimal concentration, the ACC content and the activities of ACO and ACS were studied. Furthermore, the transcriptome sequecing and real-time PCR were used to compare the gene expression of ethylene synthesis, signal transduction pathway and fruit softening between melatonin treatment and control. 【Result】200 μmol/L treatment delayed the weight loss rate, slow down firmness, and prevent fruit decay and deterioration effectively. Melatonin treatment decreased the ethylene synthesis of fruit and ACC level, while did not delay the arrival of peak period. The transcriptome sequecing results indicated that there were differentially expressed genes in ethylene synthesis, signal transduction pathways and fruit softening between melatonin and control fruits. Melatonin treatment inhibited the expressions of CmACO1-2, CmACS1, CmERFs, CmEXPs and CmEFRs.【Conclusion】200 μmol/L melatonin delays the weight loss rate, slows down firmness, and decreases the ethylene synthesis, by inhibiting the expressions of genes in ethylene synthesis, signal transduction pathways and fruit softening and prolong the storaage life.

Key words: oriental melon, melatonin treatment, ethylene synthesis, fruit softening, gene expression

CHEN Qiang, HUANG Xin-hui, ZHANG Zheng, ZHANG Chong, LIU Ye-fei. Effects of Melatonin on the Fruit Softening and Ethylene Synthesis of Post-harvest Oriental Melon[J]. Biotechnology Bulletin, 2024, 40(4): 139-147.

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1 Effects of different concentrations of melatonin on the decay rates of oriental melon Lowercase letters indicate significant differences at the P<0.05 level. The same below

Fig. 2 Effects of different melatonin on the appearance of oriental melon fruit

Fig. 3 Effects of different concentrations of melatonin treatment on the firmness and weightlessness in the fruit of post-harvest oriental melon

Fig. 4 Effects of melatonin treatment on the ethylene production（A）, content of ACC（B）and the activities of ACS（C）and ACO（D）in the fruit of post-harvest oriental melon

Fig. 5 Wayne diagram of differentially expressed genes and Volcano diagram of gene expression between samples A: Venn diagrams of total DEGs. B, C, D and E indicate CK 3 d and MT 3 d, CK 6 d and MT 6 d, and CK 3 d and CK 6 d, and MT 3 d and MT 6 d respectively. CK indicate the control group, MT indicate the melatonin treated group

Fig. 6 Enrichment analysis of differential gene KEGG pathway between melatonin treated and control group samples A: KEGG enrichment of gene set in CK3 d vs MT 3 d. B: KEGG enrichment of gene set in CK6 d vs MT6 d

Fig. 7 Co-expression analysis of key structural genes and transcription factors involved in softening and ethylene synthesis of post-harvest oriental melon fruits treated with exogenous melatonin The area of each circle refers to the number of DEGs co-expressed with each gene shown

Fig. 8 Effects of melatonin treatment on the gene expressions in the fruit of post-harvest oriental melon A: Heat map of differential gene expression related to fruit softening. B: Heat map of differentially expressed genes related to fruit ethylene synthesis. C: Correlation coefficient map between differentially expressed genes

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