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Fruit peel color is a major factor that influences fruit quality and customers' demand. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the green fruit peel color trait of Cucurbita pepo L. remain unknown. Two parental lines, RP16 and RP38, were used to study the fruit peel color trait in C. pepo . The parental line RP16 shows white peel color, whereas RP38 exhibits green peel color. 384 F 2 populations were used to identify the inheritance pattern associated with green fruit and white fruit peel in Cucurbita pepo L. 293 F 2 individuals were white, and 91 F 2 individuals were green, resulting in a ratio of 3:1. Hence, white peel is dominant over the green fruit peel trait, and a single recessive green peel gene ( Cpgp ) controls the green fruit peel. The fruit chlorophyll (Chll) content decreases as fruit matures in the RP16 line. In contrast, Chll increases during the fruit growing periods on fruit peels of the RP38 line. The BSA-sequence analysis revealed the Cpgp locus on Chr5, within a 2.3 Mb region. Subsequent fine-mapping analysis, using 699 F 2 plants, narrowed down this region to 23.90 kb on the same chromosome. Within this region, two annotated genes, namely Cp4.1LG05g02070 and Cp4.1LG05g02060 , are present. These genes are predicted to encode a two-component Arabidopsis Pseudo-Response Regulator 2-like protein (APRR2), which may be involved in green pigmentation processes in plants. Consequently, sequence alignment and gene expression analyses at various fruit development stages supported that Cp4.1LG05g02070 may be the primary candidate gene responsible for regulating the green fruit peel color trait in Cucurbita pepo L. This study may provide a basis for further study on the basic mechanisms that control the fruit peel colors in Cucurbita spp ., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11032-024-01492-7., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

In a global climate change environment, assuring optimal growing conditions is a difficult challenge, compromising the food supply for a rapidly rising population. The climatic conditions in the protected environment lead to high temperatures and fast insect development, impacting productivity and vegetables qualitative attributes. Consumers' interest in healthy food requires sustainable tools to manage biotic and abiotic factors and, from this perspective, anti-insect nets represent an excellent "green" solution. For this purpose, our goal was to compare two different anti-insect nets on microclimate, production, and qualitative traits of Cucurbita pepo L. fresh fruits. The experiment was conducted in three separate polyethylene high tunnels, with 50 mesh anti-insect nets of different porosities being installed on the openings of two tunnels, while the third tunnel was a control without nets. Microclimate measurements, as well as yield, physiological, and phytochemicals variables, were assessed. The 50 mesh net led to a decrease in marketable yield (22.5%), fruit number (18.0%), CO 2 net assimilation rate (6.0%), and transpiration rate (29.5%). Total soluble solids, antioxidant activities and total ascorbic acid concentration had an opposite trend. The 50 mesh AirPlus net improved quality aspects of zucchini fruits by increasing total ascorbic acid, total phenols, and antioxidant compounds, with no negative impact on yield.

Metals and metalloids in soil could be transferred into reproductive organs and floral rewards of hyperaccumulator plants and influence their reproductive success, yet little is known whether non-hyperaccumulator plants can translocate heavy metals from soil into their floral organs and rewards (i.e., nectar and pollen) and, if so, whether plant reproduction will be affected. In our studies, summer squash (Cucurbita pepo L. cv. Golden Apple) was exposed to heavy-metal treatments during bud stage to investigate the translocation of soil-supplemented zinc, copper, nickel and lead into its floral organs (pistil, anther and nectary) and rewards (nectar and pollen) as well as floral metal accumulation effects on its reproduction. The results showed that metals taken up by squash did translocate into its floral organs and rewards, although metal accumulation varied depending on different metal types and concentrations as well as floral organ/reward types. Mean foraging time of honey bees to each male and female flower of squash grown in metal-supplemented soils was shorter relative to that of plants grown in control soils, although the visitation rate of honeybees to both male and female flowers was not affected by metal treatments. Pollen viability, pollen removal and deposition as well as mean mass per seed produced by metal-treated squash that received pollen from plants grown in control soils decreased with elevated soil-supplemented metal concentrations. The fact that squash could translocate soil-supplemented heavy metals into floral organs and rewards indicated possible reproductive consequences caused either directly (i.e., decreasing pollen viability or seed mass) or indirectly (i.e., affecting pollinators' visitation behavior to flowers) to plant fitness., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Leon Chua, the discoverer of a memristor, theoretically predicted that voltage gated ion channels can be memristors. We recently found memristors in different plants such as the Venus flytrap, Mimosa pudica, Aloe vera, apple fruits, and in potato tubers. There are no publications in literature about the existence of memristors in seeds. The goal of this work was to discover if pumpkin seeds might have memristors. We selected Cucurbita pepo L., cv. Cinderella, Cucurbita maxima L. cv Warty Goblin, and Cucurbita maxima L., cv. Jarrahdale seeds for this analysis. In these seeds, we found the presence of resistors with memory. The analysis was based on cyclic voltammetry where a memristor should manifest itself as a nonlinear two-terminal electrical element, which exhibits a pinched hysteresis loop on a current-voltage plane for any bipolar cyclic voltage input signal. Dry dormant pumpkin seeds have very high electrical resistance without memristive properties. The electrostimulation by bipolar sinusoidal or triangular periodic waves induces electrical responses in imbibed pumpkin seeds with fingerprints of memristors. Tetraethylammonium chloride, an inhibitor of voltage gated K(+) channels, transforms a memristor to a resistor in pumpkin seeds. NPPB (5-Nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)benzoic acid) inhibits the memristive properties of imbibed pumpkin seeds. The discovery of memristors in pumpkin seeds creates a new direction in the understanding of electrophysiological phenomena in seeds.

As was shown recently the generation of cooling-induced action potential accompanies the reversible change of extracellular pH.1 The pH changes are linked to the Ca(2+)-induced transient inhibition of the plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase. Generation of mechano-induced local bioelectrical reaction (LBER) also accompanies the reversible change of extracellular pH. Shifts of pH medium during generation of mechano-induced electrical impulse are less than during generation of cooling-induced bioelectrical response. The exclusion of Ca(2+) influx from extracellular stores don't decrease the amplitude of mechano-induced LBER.