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The pungent-variable sweet chili pepper ‘Shishito’ (Capsicum annuum) provides insights regarding the relationship between pungency, the number of seeds, and gene expression involving capsaicinoid biosynthesis

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Abstract

Pungent traits caused by capsaicinoids are characteristic of chili peppers (Capsicum spp.), and the pungent-variable sweet chili pepper ‘Shishito’ (Capsicum annuum) is unique in being known for the pungency in fruits with few seeds. In the present study, we tried to clarify the relationship between the number of seeds and pungency in ‘Shishito’. First, we investigated the pungency of ‘Shishito’ by simple sensory evaluations and quantifications of capsaicinoids by high-performance liquid chromatography. As a result, few-seeded fruits had a larger fluctuation of capsaicinoid content than many-seeded ones. This indicates that the number of seeds, in particular a decrease of the seeds, has some sort of connection with the pungency of ‘Shishito’. Then, we analyzed the relationship between pungency and gene expression involving capsaicinoid biosynthesis at the individual fruit level. We vertically separated the placental septum in which capsaicinoids are synthesized and performed quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) for 18 genes involved in capsaicinoid biosynthesis. We also used the placental septum for capsaicinoid quantification so that the gene expression levels and capsaicinoid contents in the same fruits were obtained, and their correlations were analyzed using 20 biological replicates. Among the 18 genes, expression levels of 11 genes (WRKY9, CaMYB31, AT3, BCAT, BCKDH, KAS I, KAS III, ACL, CaKR1, FAT, and pAMT) had a significant positive correlation with the capsaicinoid concentration, and they were considered to upregulate capsaicinoid biosynthesis. These results provide new insights regarding the environmental variation of the pungency traits in chili peppers and the relationship between pungency, the number of seeds, and gene expression involved in capsaicinoid biosynthesis.

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[modified from Arce-Rodríguez and Ochoa-Alejo 2019; Koeda et al. 2019]

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Acknowledgement

The authors thank Matsushima Sara for providing inspiration for the present research by her independent research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agriculture, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shinshu University, 8304 Minamiminowa, Nagano, 399-4598, Japan

    Fumiya Kondo & Kanami Hatakeyama

  2. Yawataya Isogoro Inc., 102-1 Yanagimachi, Nagano-shi, Nagano, 380-0805, Japan

    Kanami Hatakeyama & Ayana Sakai

  3. Graduate School of Agriculture, Shinshu University, 8304 Minamiminowa, Nagano, 399-4598, Japan

    Ayana Sakai

  4. Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University, 8304 Minamiminowa, Nagano, 399-4598, Japan

    Mineo Minami

  5. Institute of Agriculture, Academic Assembly Faculty, Shinshu University, 8304 Minamiminowa, Nagano, 399-4598, Japan

    Kazuhiro Nemoto & Kenichi Matsushima

Authors
  1. Fumiya Kondo
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  2. Kanami Hatakeyama
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  3. Ayana Sakai
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  4. Mineo Minami
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  5. Kazuhiro Nemoto
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  6. Kenichi Matsushima
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Correspondence to Kenichi Matsushima.

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Communicated by Stefan Hohmann.

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Kondo, F., Hatakeyama, K., Sakai, A. et al. The pungent-variable sweet chili pepper ‘Shishito’ (Capsicum annuum) provides insights regarding the relationship between pungency, the number of seeds, and gene expression involving capsaicinoid biosynthesis. Mol Genet Genomics 296, 591–603 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-021-01763-4

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