Identification and Functional Analysis of Key Genes Regulating Organic Acid Metabolism in Jujube Fruit

Organic acids are crucial indicators of fruit flavor quality, but the metabolic characteristics and regulatory genes of organic acids during jujube fruit development remain largely unexplored. In this study, the cultivar ‘Heigeda’ with a high organic acid content was used as the experimental materia...

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Main Authors: Panpan Tong, Dengyang Lu, Guanglian Liao, Cuiyun Wu, Jiangbo Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-10-01
Series:Agronomy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/14/11/2515
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author Panpan Tong
Dengyang Lu
Guanglian Liao
Cuiyun Wu
Jiangbo Wang
author_facet Panpan Tong
Dengyang Lu
Guanglian Liao
Cuiyun Wu
Jiangbo Wang
author_sort Panpan Tong
collection DOAJ
description Organic acids are crucial indicators of fruit flavor quality, but the metabolic characteristics and regulatory genes of organic acids during jujube fruit development remain largely unexplored. In this study, the cultivar ‘Heigeda’ with a high organic acid content was used as the experimental material. The organic acid content was quantified, and key candidate genes were identified through transcriptome analysis. The results indicated that malic acid and citric acid were the main organic acid content in jujube fruit and increased gradually with fruit development. Transcriptome analysis identified nine genes associated with malic acid and seven with citric acid, with four genes co-regulating malic acid and citric acid. Functional assays by transient overexpression and silencing of these four genes in the jujube fruits revealed that overexpression significantly upregulated the malic and citric acid content. However, only the silencing of aconitase1 (<i>ZjACO1</i>) and aconitase3 (<i>ZjACO3</i>) significantly downregulated the content of malic and citric acids. Therefore, aconitase1 (<i>ZjACO1</i>) and aconitase3 (<i>ZjACO3</i>) are considered the key genes that regulate the metabolism of citric acid and malic acid in jujube fruits. Our study can enrich the regulation mechanism of the organic acid metabolism of jujube fruit and provide theoretical support for the efficient cultivation of jujube fruit.
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spelling doaj-art-cdc10299aef4402aa8f0e4d36cc5fdc32025-08-20T01:53:42ZengMDPI AGAgronomy2073-43952024-10-011411251510.3390/agronomy14112515Identification and Functional Analysis of Key Genes Regulating Organic Acid Metabolism in Jujube FruitPanpan Tong0Dengyang Lu1Guanglian Liao2Cuiyun Wu3Jiangbo Wang4College of Horticulture and Forestry, Tarim University, Alar 843300, ChinaCollege of Life Science and Technology, Tarim University, Alar 843300, ChinaNational Key Laboratory for Germplasm Innovation & Utilization of Horticultural Crops, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, ChinaCollege of Horticulture and Forestry, Tarim University, Alar 843300, ChinaCollege of Horticulture and Forestry, Tarim University, Alar 843300, ChinaOrganic acids are crucial indicators of fruit flavor quality, but the metabolic characteristics and regulatory genes of organic acids during jujube fruit development remain largely unexplored. In this study, the cultivar ‘Heigeda’ with a high organic acid content was used as the experimental material. The organic acid content was quantified, and key candidate genes were identified through transcriptome analysis. The results indicated that malic acid and citric acid were the main organic acid content in jujube fruit and increased gradually with fruit development. Transcriptome analysis identified nine genes associated with malic acid and seven with citric acid, with four genes co-regulating malic acid and citric acid. Functional assays by transient overexpression and silencing of these four genes in the jujube fruits revealed that overexpression significantly upregulated the malic and citric acid content. However, only the silencing of aconitase1 (<i>ZjACO1</i>) and aconitase3 (<i>ZjACO3</i>) significantly downregulated the content of malic and citric acids. Therefore, aconitase1 (<i>ZjACO1</i>) and aconitase3 (<i>ZjACO3</i>) are considered the key genes that regulate the metabolism of citric acid and malic acid in jujube fruits. Our study can enrich the regulation mechanism of the organic acid metabolism of jujube fruit and provide theoretical support for the efficient cultivation of jujube fruit.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/14/11/2515citric acidjujubemalic acidregulationtranscriptome
spellingShingle Panpan Tong
Dengyang Lu
Guanglian Liao
Cuiyun Wu
Jiangbo Wang
Identification and Functional Analysis of Key Genes Regulating Organic Acid Metabolism in Jujube Fruit
Agronomy
citric acid
jujube
malic acid
regulation
transcriptome
title Identification and Functional Analysis of Key Genes Regulating Organic Acid Metabolism in Jujube Fruit
title_full Identification and Functional Analysis of Key Genes Regulating Organic Acid Metabolism in Jujube Fruit
title_fullStr Identification and Functional Analysis of Key Genes Regulating Organic Acid Metabolism in Jujube Fruit
title_full_unstemmed Identification and Functional Analysis of Key Genes Regulating Organic Acid Metabolism in Jujube Fruit
title_short Identification and Functional Analysis of Key Genes Regulating Organic Acid Metabolism in Jujube Fruit
title_sort identification and functional analysis of key genes regulating organic acid metabolism in jujube fruit
topic citric acid
jujube
malic acid
regulation
transcriptome
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/14/11/2515
work_keys_str_mv AT panpantong identificationandfunctionalanalysisofkeygenesregulatingorganicacidmetabolisminjujubefruit
AT dengyanglu identificationandfunctionalanalysisofkeygenesregulatingorganicacidmetabolisminjujubefruit
AT guanglianliao identificationandfunctionalanalysisofkeygenesregulatingorganicacidmetabolisminjujubefruit
AT cuiyunwu identificationandfunctionalanalysisofkeygenesregulatingorganicacidmetabolisminjujubefruit
AT jiangbowang identificationandfunctionalanalysisofkeygenesregulatingorganicacidmetabolisminjujubefruit