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Gibberellin (GA) is an important plant hormone that is involved in various physiological processes during plant development. Sweet cherries planted in southern China have always encountered difficulty in bearing fruit. In recent years, gibberellin has successfully solved this problem, but there has also been an increase in malformed fruits. This study mainly explores the mechanism of malformed fruit formation in sweet cherries. By analyzing the synthesis pathway of gibberellin using metabolomics and transcriptomics, the relationship between gibberellin and the formation mechanism of deformed fruit was preliminarily determined. The results showed that the content of GA3 in malformed fruits was significantly higher than in normal fruits. The differentially expressed genes in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway were mainly enriched in pathways such as "plant hormone signal transduction", "diterpenoid biosynthesis", and "carotenoid biosynthesis". Using Quantitative Real-Time Reverse Transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis, the gibberellin hydrolase gene GA2ox and gibberellin synthase genes GA20ox and GA3ox were found to be significantly up-regulated. Therefore, we speculate that the formation of malformed fruits in sweet cherries may be related to the accumulation of GA3. This lays the foundation for further research on the mechanism of malformed sweet cherry fruits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diversity of fruit color in sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) has been attributed to the presence of either anthocyanin or carotenoid. We profiled the anthocyanin and carotenoid metabolites to investigate the different pigments and the underlying regulatory mechanisms of differential expression genes (DEGs) between red and yellow fruits of sweet cherry. We profiled two cultivars, 'Jiangnanhong'(JNH, red fruits) and 'Chaoyang'(CY, yellow fruits) to establish their anthocyanin and carotenoid metabolites by LC-MS/MS and transcriptome analysis by RNA-seq to test the difference in gene expression and metabolic substances between the two varieties. Cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside was the most different pigment between two cultivars, the content of which in red fruit was significantly higher than in the yellow one during the whole ripening stage (stage 3 and stage 4). The total carotenoid content in the two color types of fruits was close, but the content in yellow fruit was shown to be more stable after harvest. Based on the transcriptome data, the heatmap of selected structural DEGs showed that all of the anthocyanin genes expressed significantly higher levels in red fruits than that in yellow fruits. Two unigenes encoding chalcone synthase (CHS) and UDP glucose-flavonoid 3-O-glucosyltransferase (UFGT) were expressed 1134.58 and 1151.24 times higher in red than in yellow fruits at stage 4, respectively. Correlation analysis showed that anthocyanin genes in JNH were negatively correlated with those in CY; by contrast, there were some strong correlations observed between the two cultivars in carotenoid genes. Thus, the coloration of sweet cherry was mainly attributed to anthocyanin-related genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The effect of ethanol vapour treatment on controlling fruit decay was studied on Chinese bayberry (Myrica rubra Sieb. & Zucc.) stored at different temperatures over two seasons. Ethanol vapour at a concentration of 1000μL/L, generated from pre-saturated filter paper sheets using either a 10mL/L ethanol stock solution at 20°C or a 40mL/L ethanol stock solution at 0°C, proved to be the most effective for controlling postharvest decay of bayberry fruit. The ethanol treatment reduced the decay rate of fruit from 28.7 to 15.8% after 3 days storage at 20°C and from 27.8 to 16.6% after 5 days storage at 0°C and 1 day shelf-life at 20°C. The ethanol treatment did not have any deleterious effects on fruit quality, but resulted in an increase in the accumulation of anthocyanins in the fruit. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Four expansin cDNA fragments, EjEXPA1, EjEXPA2, EjEXPA3 and EjEXPA4, were isolated and characterized from loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) fruit. EjEXPA1 mRNA accumulated consistently with the increase in fruit firmness in 0°C storage of ‘Luoyangqing’ (LYQ) fruit, where chilling injury with increased fruit firmness due to lignification was observed. EjEXPA1 mRNA levels were lower in fruit that underwent low temperature conditioning (LTC, 6d at 5°C then 4d at 0°C), and in 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treated fruit, in both cases where chilling injury was alleviated. Fruit of the ‘Baisha’ (BS) cultivar soften after harvest rather than increase in firmness, and high expression levels of EjEXPA1 and EjEXPA4 accompanied the softening of BS fruit stored at 20°C; such mRNA accumulation was much lower when fruit were stored at 0°C, where softening was significantly inhibited by the low temperature. Very low expression of EjEXPA2 and EjEXPA3 was observed during storage of both LYQ and BS fruit under the different storage conditions. Our results showed that of the four genes characterized, EjEXPA1 might be associated with chilling-induced lignification while both EjEXPA1 and EjEXPA4 were closely related to softening of loquat fruit during the postharvest period. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Chilling injury occurs in loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl. cv. Luoyangqing) fruit when they are stored at temperatures lower than 5°C. In attempts to reduce this chilling injury, the effect of low temperature conditioning (LTC) was examined. Loquat fruit were conditioned at 5°C for 6 days before 0°C storage for up to 54 days. Control fruit stored at 0°C exhibited severe symptoms of lignification and tissue browning, and a decrease in percentage juice. LTC treatment significantly reduced these chilling injury symptoms, and doubled storage life. In terms of acceptability (tissue browning, internal browning (IB) index <0.4; fruit decay, <10%; flesh firmness, <6.0N; percentage juice, >60%), fruit could only be stored for 40 days at 0°C with a 3 days shelf life at 20°C, while LTC fruit could be stored for 60 days at 0°C with a similar shelf life. Similarly, LTC fruit could be stored for 40 days with a 5 days shelf life at 20°C, while fruit could be only stored for 20 days at 0°C with a 5 days shelf life. Our results confirm that LTC can effectively alleviate postharvest chilling injury of loquat fruit and may provide longer storage life with acceptable external and internal quality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]