Professor Kunsong Chen's team in Zhejiang University has made a new progress in strawberry fruit flavor quality

Characteristic volatile compounds in cultivated strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) fruit are the main factors to attract customers, which are highly correlated with consumer preference and overall satisfaction for strawberry. Furanone is a characteristic aroma in strawberry, and has a significant impact on fruit flavor. Research on the regulation mechanism of fruit aroma compounds can provide theoretical basis for improving fruit flavor quality. Recently, increasing evidence suggests that DNA methylation plays a crucial role in fruit ripening in horticultural crops. However, the role of DNA methylation in regulating specific traits, such as furanone biosynthesis, remains unclear.

Horticulture Research published online a paper from Professor Kunsong Chen's team at Zhejiang University entitled DNA methylation mediated by RdDM pathway and demethylation affects furanone accumulation through regulation of QUINONE OXIDOREDUCTASE in strawberry on July 11^th, 2023.

Here a role of DNA methylation in affecting furanone biosynthesis in strawberry was reported. Strawberry quinone oxidoreductase (FaQR) is a key enzyme in furanone biosynthesis. There are four FaQR homologs in strawberry cultivar ‘Yuexin’, and one of them, FaQR3 contributes to approximately 50% of FaQR transcripts, indicating a major role of FaQR3 in furanone biosynthesis. Through characterization of levels of DNA methylation, FaQR3 transcript and furanone contents during fruit ripening and after the application of DNA methylation inhibitor, it was found that the DNA methylation level of FaQR3 promoter was negatively correlated with FaQR3 expression and furanone accumulation (Figure 1), suggesting that DNA methylation may be involved in furanone biosynthesis through adjusting FaQR3 expression, and responded to different temperatures consistently. In addition, transient expression of a gene in the RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathway, FaAGO4, and enrichment analysis of the 24-nt siRNAs suggested that DNA methylation in FaQR3 promoter is mediated by RdDM pathway. Transient RNAi of FaDML indicated that demethylation pathway may be involved in regulating furanone accumulation. These findings provide new insights into the role of DNA methylation and demethylation in affecting flavor quality in strawberry during fruit ripening (Figure 2). These findings add new contents to the metabolic regulation network of plant volatiles and provide a new basis for the improvement of fruit flavor quality.

###

References

Authors

Yunduan Li†, Yanna Shi†, Yichen Li, Jiao Lu, Yunfan Sun, Yuanyuan Zhang, Wenbo Chen, Xiaofang Yang, Donald Grierson, Zhaobo Lang*, Guihua Jiang*, Kunsong Chen*

Affiliations

College of Agriculture & Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Zijingang Campus, Hangzhou 310058, China

About Kunsong Chen

Kunsong Chen: Qiushi Distinguished Professor of Zhejiang University; winner of the special allowance of the State Council; expert for "Food Production and Safety Technology" of the "863" project; member of Agriculture and Forest Faculty, the 7^th and the 8^th Commission of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Education (MoE); member of the 9^th Commission of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA); outstanding talent of “Ten Thousand Talents Project" of Zhejiang Province; group leader of the Sci-Tech Innovation Team of  MoA and Zhejiang Province; president of the "Technology Innovation Alliance for Food Cold Chain Logistics Industry" of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST); vice president of 13^th Chinese Society for Horticultural Science.

Research interests focusing on fruit quality biology, especially the changes in texture, color, and flavor during fruit ripening, postharvest storage and logistics. Ongoing main projects include NSFC-key project and international collaboration key project of MoST. Scientist in chief of National Key Research and Development Program, National "863" Key Project, Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest of the MoA.

More than 200 SCI papers published in Journals such as NAS、Nat Commun、Genome Biol、J Integr Plant Boil、New Phytol、Plant Physiol、Plant J、Plant Biotech J, J Agric Food Chem、Hortic Res、Postharvest Biol Tech, etc. Winner of the 2^nd Prize of National Award for Sci-Tech Progress, 4 first prizes of Natural Science Award and Sci-Tech Progress Award from MoE and Zhejiang Provence; Excellent Research Team Award of the Chinese Society for Horticultural Science.