Project description:Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent a family of small endogenous, non-coding RNAs that play critical regulatory roles in plant growth, development, and environmental stress responses. Although Hami melon is an attractive model for valuable biological traits analysis, the role of miRNA action in the fruit development and ripening remains largely unknown. Here, we performed small RNA sequencing to investigate the Hami melon miRNA profiles at four fruit developmental stages Results: Small RNA sequencing yielded raw reads in eight libraries. miRNAs expression profiles were variable at different fruit developmental stages. The expression levels of five known miRNAs were validated by quantitative real-time PCR. Among the identified miRNAs, several miRNAs showed developmentally regulated and differentially expressed pattern during fruit development. Conclusions: Our results present a first comprehensive set of identification and characterization of Hami melon fruit miRNAs and their potential targets, which provide valuable basis for further research on the critical role of miRNAs in melon fruit development.
Project description:Melon (Cucumis melo L.) is a commercially important fruit crop that is cultivated worldwide. The melon research community has recently benefited from the determination of a complete draft genome sequence and the development of associated genomic tools, which have allowed us to focus on small RNAs (sRNAs). These are short, non-coding RNAs 21â24 nucleotides in length with diverse physiological roles. In plants, they regulate gene expression and heterochromatin assembly, and control protection against virus infection. Much remains to be learned about the role of sRNAs in melon. We constructed 10 sRNA libraries from two stages of developing ovaries, fruits and photosynthetic cotyledons infected with viruses, and carried out high-throughput pyrosequencing. We catalogued and analyzed the melon sRNAs, resulting in the identification of 26 known miRNA families (many conserved with other species), the prediction of 84 melon-specific miRNA candidates, the identification of trans-acting siRNAs, and the identification of chloroplast, mitochondrion and transposon-derived sRNAs. In silico analysis revealed more than 400 potential targets for the conserved and novel miRNAs. This analysis provides insight into the composition and function of the melon small RNAome, and paves the way towards an understanding of sRNA-mediated processes that regulate melon fruit development and melonâvirus interactions.
Project description:Melon (Cucumis melo L.) is a commercially important fruit crop that is cultivated worldwide. The melon research community has recently benefited from the determination of a complete draft genome sequence and the development of associated genomic tools, which have allowed us to focus on small RNAs (sRNAs). These are short, non-coding RNAs 21â24 nucleotides in length with diverse physiological roles. In plants, they regulate gene expression and heterochromatin assembly, and control protection against virus infection. Much remains to be learned about the role of sRNAs in melon. We constructed 10 sRNA libraries from two stages of developing ovaries, fruits and photosynthetic cotyledons infected with viruses, and carried out high-throughput pyrosequencing. We catalogued and analyzed the melon sRNAs, resulting in the identification of 26 known miRNA families (many conserved with other species), the prediction of 84 melon-specific miRNA candidates, the identification of trans-acting siRNAs, and the identification of chloroplast, mitochondrion and transposon-derived sRNAs. In silico analysis revealed more than 400 potential targets for the conserved and novel miRNAs. This analysis provides insight into the composition and function of the melon small RNAome, and paves the way towards an understanding of sRNA-mediated processes that regulate melon fruit development and melonâvirus interactions. 11 small RNA libraries from several tissues of melon are included en the raw data. 2 samples from ovary, 2 samples from fruit, 1 sample from healthy cotyledons (Cultivar Tendral), 1 samples from healthy cotyledons (genotype TGR-1551), 1 sample from cotyledons (cultivar Tendral) infected with Watermelon mosaic virus (WMV), 1 sample from cotyledons (cultivar TGR-1551) infected with WMV, 1 sample from cotyledons (cultivar Tendral) infected with Melon necrotic spot virus (MNSV, Malfa5 isolate), 1 sample from cotyledons (cultivar Tendral) infected with MNSV (chimeric virus with Malfa5-264 isolates), 1 library from synthetic RNA oligos. Raw reads were obtained from two independent 454 runs, ~22,000 reads each one, to a total of 447,180 reads
Project description:Melon is a globally commercialized fruit, and Fusarium rot disease poses a significant threat to post-harvest losses. The conventional use of fungicides raises concerns about chemical residues, prompting exploration into alternative technologies such as Pulsed Light (PL). While PL has been effective in controlling infections in various fruits and vegetables, the precise physiological responses and molecular mechanisms in melon fruits remain incompletely understood. In this study, melon fruits infected with the Fusarium pallidoroseum were treated with different doses of PL (0, 6, 9, and 12 J cm-2), and the impact on both fungal control and fruit shelf life extension was investigated. The 9 J cm-2 dose emerged as the most effective in controlling fungal growth without causing damage, inducing beneficial responses. This optimal PL dose upregulated genes in the lignan biosynthesis pathway and the infection upregulated genes involved with systemic acquired resistance, triggered by the pipecolic acid. In this way, the PL treatment and the infection trigger a double mechanism of resistance in melon fruits. A second and third experiment focused on evaluating the extension of melon fruit shelf life and the safe manipulation window post-PL treatment. The results revealed an average shelf life extension of six days and a safe manipulation period of 24 hours. The extension in shelf life was associated with a deviation in information flux from the ethylene biosynthesis to upregulation of the polyamine biosynthesis pathway, which produces nitric oxide, a product that can inhibit ethylene biosynthesis and its action. Furthermore, the observed 24-hour safety period against fungal infection post-PL treatment was characterized as a memory response resistance caused by the upregulation of lignan biosynthesis, which is a potential and efficient alternative to chemical products like fungicides. Overall, this study provides insights into the transcriptional molecular mechanisms through which PL promotes systemic acquired resistance and extends the shelf life of melon fruits.
Project description:Purpose: the goals of this study are to compare fruit of two clitivars oriental melon transcriptome profiling (RNA-seq) at different stages to explore carotenoid potentail carotenoid accumulation mechanism Methods:The transcriptome sequence of two cultivars oriental melon fruits at different stages were generated by deep sequencing with three repeats using Illumina. The sequence reads that passed filters were mapped to melon genome (http://cucurbitgenomics.org/organism/18) using HISAT2 software. The differently expressed genes were identify by |log2(FoldChange)| > 0 & padj <= 0.05, and qRT–PCR validation was performed using SYBR Green assays Result:Using an optimized data analysis workflow, we mapped about 40 million sequence reads per sample to the melon genome. The differentially expressed genes were functionally classified by GO and KEGG enrichment. We focused on carotenoid metabolism related gene and validated using qRT-PCR. The results showed RNA-seq and qRT-PCR were highly correlated. Conclusion: Our study provided transcriptome sequence of oriental melon fruits at different stages in two cultivars. The optimized data analysis workflows reported here should provide comparative framework of expression profiles. Our transcriptome characterization contribute to analyze gene functions and metabolic process of oriental melon.
Project description:We report the construction of an oligo-based microarray using a total of 17,510 unigenes derived from 30,675 high-quality melon ESTs. This chip is particularly enriched with genes that are expressed in fruit and during interaction with pathogens. Hybridizations for three independent experiments allowed the characterization of global gene expression profiles during fruit ripening, as well as in response to viral and fungal infections in plant cotyledons and roots, respectively. Microarray construction, statistical analyses and validation together with functional-enrichment analysis are presented in this study.
Project description:Pineapple is a non climacteric fruit. This study investigates changes in gene expression between the mature green fruit and mature yellow fruit ripening stages