New progress in the study of apple fruit color formation

Home >> News Center >> New progress in the study of apple fruit color formation

New progress in the study of apple fruit color formation

On July 25, 2019, Yao Yuncong, a research group of the College of Plant Science and Technology of Beijing Agricultural College, published a research paper entitled "Systematic identification of long non-coding RNAs expressed during light-induced anthocyanin accumulation in apple fruit" in The Plant Journal. This study analyzed the potential role of long-chain non-coding RNA (lncRNA) in anthocyanin biosynthesis in apple fruit, and elucidated the new mechanism of decoy lncRNA involved in the regulation of fruit color formation.

Fruit color is the important quality of apple fruit quality. It is not only an important indicator of fruit commodity value, but also has important physiological significance for resisting biotic and abiotic stress during fruit development. During fruit development, pigment accumulation is closely related to light. Sufficient light can promote the rapid accumulation of secondary metabolites such as anthocyanins during fruit development and increase the fruit coloration area. In order to explore the molecular regulation mechanism of light-regulated apple fruit coloring, this study performed transcriptome, miRNA and lncRNA sequencing at different time points of light-treated apple fruit, through miRNA-lncRNA-mRNA expression correlation analysis and endogenous target simulation (eTM). Analysis, identified two differentially expressed lncRNAs, named MLNC3.2 and MLNC4.6, respectively, and these two lncRNAs can serve as target mimics of miRNA156a, promoting the expression of SPL2-like and SPL33 transcription factors. In apple fruit and callus, transient and stable transformation of MLNC3.2, MLNC4.6 or SPL transcription factors can promote the accumulation of anthocyanins, while silencing or overexpressing miRNA156a can affect MLNC3.2, MLNC4.6 or SPL expression. These results indicate that MLNC3.2 and MLNC4.6 act as eTMs of miR156a and prevent miR156a from cleavage of SPL2-like and SPL33 during photoinduced anthocyanin biosynthesis. In this study, a molecular regulation model of miRNA-lncRNA-target gene during the biosynthesis of anthocyanin in apple fruit was established. At the same time, it provides a new idea for exploring the mechanism of anthocyanin biosynthesis in apple fruit.

The research was completed by Professor Yao Yuncong of the Beijing Agricultural College. The graduate students of the School of Horticulture of Beijing Agricultural College, Yang Tuo and Ma Huaying, were the first authors of the paper. Professor Yao Yuncong and Associate Professor Tian Wei were the authors of the paper. Relevant work has been funded by the national key research and development plan and Beijing High-precision discipline construction project.