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Contribution of Genomics to Fruit Quality and Postharvest Biology
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Contribution of Genomics to Fruit Quality and Postharvest Biology

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 August 2021) | Viewed by 15518

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Islam El-Sharkawy

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Viticulture and Small Fruit Research, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
Interests: aroma spectrum; beneficial bioactive metabolome; biotic/abiotic stress; fruit ripening; fruit quality traits; omics technologies; phytohormones; postharvest biology; warm region grapes
Prof. Jayasankar Subramanian

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
Interests: breeding; disease resistance; genomics; stone fruits; postharvest biology; nanotechnology; fruit crops; bioactive molecules
Dr. Sadanad A. Dhekney

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Associate Professor, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD, USA
Interests: precision breeding of grapevine; disease resistance; grapevine cell culture and biotechnology; genome editing of Vitis for quality traits

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The global food crisis has triggered the elevation of food security as a priority issue on the international policy agenda. Although several factors in tandem have triggered this crisis, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ominously emphasized the crucial fragility of the global food system, in terms of quantity and quality. The situation forced the scientific and agricultural communities to change their global strategy and regulatory framework for food improvement, raising issues for the modernization of breeding approaches. Accordingly, novel genomics-based approaches for plant breeding and genetics research that are able to accelerate and enhance breeding efficiency have emerged as powerful tools in the context of rapid trait improvement in fruit species.

Thus far, the development of genomic tools for studying fruit development, ripening, and quality have mostly been carried out using tomato as a model fruit. There is a need to apply genomic methods in other fruit species. Efforts should also be directed towards the elucidation of the function of the genes in planta. So far, among the several hundreds of genes whose expression is altered during ripening, very few have well-characterized functions. The number of genes for which a picture of the regulatory events is available is extremely limited.

This Special Issue of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences will focus on presenting the actual and potential contribution of genomics to the understanding of the fruit ripening process and to the genetic improvement of fruit quality and storability to increase consumer acceptance and market value for sustaining production.

Dr. Islam El-Sharkawy
Prof. Jayasankar Subramanian
Dr. Sadanad A. Dhekney
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Flavor aroma spectrum
  • Fruit development
  • Fruit diseases
  • Quality traits
  • Nutritional value
  • Postharvest
  • Ripening
  • Shelf-life longevity

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 5929 KiB  
Article
Transcriptomics of Improved Fruit Retention by Hexanal in ‘Honeycrisp’ Reveals Hormonal Crosstalk and Reduced Cell Wall Degradation in the Fruit Abscission Zone
by Karthika Sriskantharajah, Walid El Kayal, Davoud Torkamaneh, Murali M. Ayyanath, Praveen K. Saxena, Alan J. Sullivan, Gopinadhan Paliyath and Jayasankar Subramanian
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(16), 8830; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22168830 - 17 Aug 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3457
Abstract
Apples (Malus domestica Borkh) are prone to preharvest fruit drop, which is more pronounced in ‘Honeycrisp’. Hexanal is known to improve fruit retention in several economically important crops. The effects of hexanal on the fruit retention of ‘Honeycrisp’ apples were assessed [...] Read more.
Apples (Malus domestica Borkh) are prone to preharvest fruit drop, which is more pronounced in ‘Honeycrisp’. Hexanal is known to improve fruit retention in several economically important crops. The effects of hexanal on the fruit retention of ‘Honeycrisp’ apples were assessed using physiological, biochemical, and transcriptomic approaches. Fruit retention and fruit firmness were significantly improved by hexanal, while sugars and fresh weight did not show a significant change in response to hexanal treatment. At commercial maturity, abscisic acid and melatonin levels were significantly lower in the treated fruit abscission zone (FAZ) compared to control. At this stage, a total of 726 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between treated and control FAZ. Functional classification of the DEGs showed that hexanal downregulated ethylene biosynthesis genes, such as S-adenosylmethionine synthase (SAM2) and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid oxidases (ACO3, ACO4, and ACO4-like), while it upregulated the receptor genes ETR2 and ERS1. Genes related to ABA biosynthesis (FDPS and CLE25) were also downregulated. On the contrary, key genes involved in gibberellic acid biosynthesis (GA20OX-like and KO) were upregulated. Further, hexanal downregulated the expression of genes related to cell wall degrading enzymes, such as polygalacturonase (PG1), glucanases (endo-β-1,4-glucanase), and expansins (EXPA1-like, EXPA6, EXPA8, EXPA10-like, EXPA16-like). Our findings reveal that hexanal reduced the sensitivity of FAZ cells to ethylene and ABA. Simultaneously, hexanal maintained the cell wall integrity of FAZ cells by regulating genes involved in cell wall modifications. Thus, delayed fruit abscission by hexanal is most likely achieved by minimizing ABA through an ethylene-dependent mechanism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Contribution of Genomics to Fruit Quality and Postharvest Biology)
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16 pages, 2140 KiB  
Article
Physiological and Molecular Responses of Six Apple Rootstocks to Osmotic Stress
by Yasmine S. Hezema, Mukund R. Shukla, Murali M. Ayyanath, Sherif M. Sherif and Praveen K. Saxena
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(15), 8263; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22158263 - 31 Jul 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2184
Abstract
The growth and productivity of several apple rootstocks have been evaluated in various previous studies. However, limited information is available on their tolerance to osmotic stress. In the present study, the physiological and molecular responses as well as abscisic acid (ABA) levels were [...] Read more.
The growth and productivity of several apple rootstocks have been evaluated in various previous studies. However, limited information is available on their tolerance to osmotic stress. In the present study, the physiological and molecular responses as well as abscisic acid (ABA) levels were assessed in six apple rootstocks (M26, V3, G41, G935, B9 and B118) osmotically stressed with polyethylene glycol (PEG, 30%) application under greenhouse conditions. Our results showed that V3, G41, G935 and B9 had higher relative water content (RWC), and lower electrolyte leakage (EL) under stress conditions compared to M26 and B118. Additionally, water use efficiency (WUE) was higher in V3, G41 and B9 than M26, which might be partially due to the lower transpiration rate in these tolerant rootstocks. V3, G41 and B9 rootstocks also displayed high endogenous ABA levels which was combined with a reduction in stomatal conductance and decreased water loss. At the transcriptional level, genes involved in ABA-dependent and ABA-independent pathways, e.g., SnRK, DREB, ERD and MYC2, showed higher expression in V3, G41, G935 and B9 rootstocks compared to M26 in response to stress. In contrast, WRKY29 was down-regulated in response to stress in the tolerant rootstocks, and its expression was negatively correlated with ABA content and stomatal closure. Overall, the findings of this study showed that B9, V3 and G41 displayed better osmotic stress tolerance followed by G935 then M26 and B118 rootstocks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Contribution of Genomics to Fruit Quality and Postharvest Biology)
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14 pages, 3967 KiB  
Article
Changes in the Content of Organic Acids and Expression Analysis of Citric Acid Accumulation-Related Genes during Fruit Development of Yellow (Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa) and Purple (Passiflora edulis f. edulis) Passion Fruits
by Xiaoxue Zhang, Xiaoxia Wei, Muhammad Moaaz Ali, Hafiz Muhammad Rizwan, Binqi Li, Han Li, Kaijie Jia, Xuelian Yang, Songfeng Ma, Shaojia Li and Faxing Chen
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(11), 5765; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22115765 - 28 May 2021
Cited by 50 | Viewed by 6431
Abstract
Organic acids are key components that determine the taste and flavor of fruits and play a vital role in maintaining fruit quality and nutritive value. In this study, the fruits of two cultivars of passion fruit Yellow (Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa) [...] Read more.
Organic acids are key components that determine the taste and flavor of fruits and play a vital role in maintaining fruit quality and nutritive value. In this study, the fruits of two cultivars of passion fruit Yellow (Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa) and purple (Passiflora edulis f. edulis) were harvested at five different developmental stages (i.e., fruitlet, green, veraison, near-mature and mature stage) from an orchard located in subtropical region of Fujian Province, China. The contents of six organic acids were quantified using ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC), activities of citric acid related enzymes were determined, and expression levels of genes involved in citric acid metabolism were measured by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The results revealed that citric acid was the predominant organic acid in both cultivars during fruit development. The highest citric acid contents were observed in both cultivars at green stage, which were reduced with fruit maturity. Correlation analysis showed that citrate synthase (CS), cytosolic aconitase (Cyt-ACO) and cytosolic isocitrate dehydrogenase (Cyt-IDH) may be involved in regulating citric acid biosynthesis. Meanwhile, the PeCS2, PeACO4, PeACO5 and PeIDH1 genes may play an important role in regulating the accumulation of citric acid. This study provides new insights for future elucidation of key mechanisms regulating organic acid biosynthesis in passion fruit. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Contribution of Genomics to Fruit Quality and Postharvest Biology)
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18 pages, 8385 KiB  
Article
Genome-Wide Identification of the B-BOX Genes that Respond to Multiple Ripening Related Signals in Sweet Cherry Fruit
by Yanyan Wang, Zefeng Zhai, Yueting Sun, Chen Feng, Xiang Peng, Xiang Zhang, Yuqin Xiao, Xin Zhou, Weili Wang, Jiale Jiao and Tianhong Li
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(4), 1622; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22041622 - 05 Feb 2021
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 2333
Abstract
B-BOX proteins are zinc finger transcription factors that play important roles in plant growth, development, and abiotic stress responses. In this study, we identified 15 PavBBX genes in the genome database of sweet cherry. We systematically analyzed the gene structures, clustering characteristics, and [...] Read more.
B-BOX proteins are zinc finger transcription factors that play important roles in plant growth, development, and abiotic stress responses. In this study, we identified 15 PavBBX genes in the genome database of sweet cherry. We systematically analyzed the gene structures, clustering characteristics, and expression patterns of these genes during fruit development and in response to light and various hormones. The PavBBX genes were divided into five subgroups. The promoter regions of the PavBBX genes contain cis-acting elements related to plant development, hormones, and stress. qRT-PCR revealed five upregulated and eight downregulated PavBBX genes during fruit development. In addition, PavBBX6, PavBBX9, and PavBBX11 were upregulated in response to light induction. We also found that ABA, BR, and GA3 contents significantly increased in response to light induction. Furthermore, the expression of several PavBBX genes was highly correlated with the expression of anthocyanin biosynthesis genes, light-responsive genes, and genes that function in multiple hormone signaling pathways. Some PavBBX genes were strongly induced by ABA, GA, and BR treatment. Notably, PavBBX6 and PavBBX9 responded to all three hormones. Taken together, BBX proteins likely play major roles in regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis in sweet cherry fruit by integrating light, ABA, GA, and BR signaling pathways. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Contribution of Genomics to Fruit Quality and Postharvest Biology)
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