Abstract
Fragaria chiloensis is a native species from Chile and has interesting attributes such as good taste, aroma, and exotic white color. As the maternal relative of commercial strawberry, it is interesting to understand its ripening physiology. Changes in physiological parameters (size, soluble solids, acidity, and firmness) were followed during the development and ripening of F. chiloensis fruit, noticing a fast and intense softening that severely limits its post-harvest shelf life. The content of abscisic acid (ABA) was quantified along its development and displayed an incremental pattern, meanwhile a descendant profile was determined for auxin. To clarify the role of ABA on F. chiloensis softening, detached immature fruits (C2 stage, low ABA levels) were treated with exogenous ABA and changes in firmness were followed during storage at 20 °C. Fruit firmness reduction was accelerated by ABA treatment compared to non-treated fruit, and consistent with that, a clear induction in the accumulation of transcripts of cell wall disassembly genes such as FcPG, FcRGL1, and FcExp5 was observed. In parallel, there was an increment in the transcript level of transcription factors (TFs) such as FcNAC1, FcSEP3, and FcSHP. Good correlations were determined between firmness reduction and the expression of cell wall genes and TFs. Bioinformatic analysis reveals the presence of cis elements responding to ABA in the promoter regions of cell wall disassembly genes and FcNAC1. This indicates that ABA accelerates the set of transcriptional changes leading to softening on this non-climacteric fruit and suggests that these TFs could act as molecular mediators.
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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to Jocelyn Guajardo for her technical assistance and the entire lab group for their help during the experiments with fresh fruit. Thanks to Angela Mendez for providing useful information for the analysis of FcRGL1 promoter. The funders had no part in the design of the study or collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, neither in writing the manuscript.
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This work was supported by ANID-FONDECYT [Grant No. 1171530, 1210948].
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The present work was conceived and designed by MAM-L, EM-A, and RH. EM-A contributed collecting information and preparing figures. YS contributed with bioinformatics analyses. All authors participated in the writing and discussion of the manuscript. Each author participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. All authors read, edited, and approved the final manuscript.
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Mattus-Araya, E., Stappung, Y., Herrera, R. et al. Molecular Actors Involved in the Softening of Fragaria chiloensis Fruit Accelerated by ABA Treatment. J Plant Growth Regul 42, 433–448 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-021-10564-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-021-10564-3