Abstract
In sweet cherry, as in most non-climacteric species, abscisic acid (ABA) plays a major role in the control of fruit ripening and color development. Although the ABA treatment of sweet cherry fruits has been reported to upregulate anthocyanin pathway-related genes or ABA pathway-related genes, the temporality of molecular and physiological events occurring during color development and the ABA control of these events during the color initiation are lacking in this species. In this work, we analyzed variations in the Index of Absorbance Difference (IAD), a maturity index, and total anthocyanins along with changes in transcript abundance of ABA and anthocyanin pathway-related genes, from light green to red fruit stages. PavNCED1 and ABA signaling pathway-related genes upregulated when fruits transitioned from light green to pink stage, whereas anthocyanin pathway-related transcripts increased from pink to the red stage, together with increases in the anthocyanin content and IAD, suggesting sequentiality in molecular and physiological events during color development. Additionally, ABA applied at color initiation in planta advanced IAD, increased anthocyanin content, and yielded darker fruits at harvest. These changes were accompanied by changes in the transcript accumulation of ABA and anthocyanin pathway-related genes. This in planta treatment of sweet cherry fruits with ABA confirms that ABA is a central player in the control of color initiation in sweet cherries, associated with the transcript accumulation of genes involved in ABA homeostasis and signaling, which is followed by the up-regulation of anthocyanin pathway-related genes and color development.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Natalia Molina for her technical assistance in the field during sweet cherry fruit development and at harvest.
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This study was funded through the project CONICYT FONDECYT/Regular No. 1171016 in collaboration with the project CONICYT FONDECYT/Regular No. 1161377. Nathalie Kuhn was supported by CONICYT FONDECYT de Postdoctorado 2018, No. 3180138. Alson Time was supported by Conicyt Scholarship Grant No. 21190238.
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Nathalie Kuhn: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, visualization, writing–original draft. Claudio Ponce: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, visualization, writing–original draft. Macarena Arellano: investigation, writing–review and editing. Alson Time: Investigation, writing–review and editing. Salvatore Multari: investigation, writing–review and editing. Stefan Martens: investigation, supervision, writing–review and editing. Ester Carrera: investigation, writing–review and editing. Boris Sagredo: conceptualization, writing–review and editing. José Manuel Donoso: conceptualization, writing–review and editing. Lee A. Meisel: conceptualization, methodology, visualization, supervision, project administration, funding acquisition, writing–review and editing
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Fig. S1
Schematic representation of the fruit sampling for quality parameters measurement at harvest and the experimental design of the ABA treatment. (a), Twenty-five fruits of (n=4) trees were collected on November 29th, 2017 (1st harvest; 69 DAFB), and December 1st , 2017 (2nd harvest; 75 DAFB) for the analysis at harvest. 25 and 15 fruits per tree (n=4 trees) were used for quantifying the parameters in the 1st and 2nd harvest, respectively. The five most homogeneous fruits among the 25 or 15 were used for SSC (soluble solid content) and acidity determination. A. Refractometer; B. Durometer; C. Cherry meter; D. CTIFL color chart for color distribution; E. Fruit Caliper; F. Scale. (b), Diagram showing the number of trees treated with ABA and the control trees. Additionally, a picture of representative fruits minutes prior the ABA treatment (56 DAFB; November 16th, 2017; P1) is included. (PNG 1583 kb)
Fig. S2
Effect of ABA on ripening related parameters. (a), Fruit growth curve of ABA and control trees. The arrows indicate ABA treatment at 56 DAFB, as well as the 1st and 2nd fruit harvests. The asterisks indicate statistical differences at the indicated dates determined with T-student test, p-value < 0.05. (b), Percentage change of fruit quality parameters (width, weight, firmness, soluble solids, and acidity) in response to ABA treatment at 1st and 2nd harvest. (c), Representative pictures of the control and ABA-treated fruits at 2nd harvest. (PNG 820 kb)
Fig. S3
Transcript abundance relative to PavCAC of putative orthologs of ABA signaling pathway during fruit development. (a), PavPYL2 gene, (b), PavCYP707A1 gene, (c), PavMYB gene, encoding putative R2R3 MYB transcription factor . LG, P1, P2, and R are Light green, Pink 1, Pink 2, and Red stages, respectively (see Table S2). Pools of eight fruits per tree (n=3 trees) were used. Data were represented as mean ± SEM. (PNG 587 kb)
Fig. S4
Effect of ABA treatment on the transcript abundance relative to PavCAC of putative orthologs of the ABA signaling pathway. (a), PavPYL2 gene, (b), PavCYP707A1 gene, and (c), PavMYBA gene, encoding putative R2R3 MYB transcription factor. Pools of eight fruits per tree (n=3 trees) for control and ABA-treated trees were used. Data were represented as mean ± SEM and the values were set to 1.0 in Control. (PNG 200 kb)
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Kuhn, N., Ponce, C., Arellano, M. et al. ABA influences color initiation timing in P. avium L. fruits by sequentially modulating the transcript levels of ABA and anthocyanin-related genes. Tree Genetics & Genomes 17, 20 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-021-01502-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-021-01502-1