GRAS genes formed one of the important transcription factor gene families in plants, had been identified in several plant species. The family genes were involved in plant growth, development, and ...stress resistance. However, the comparative analysis of GRAS genes in Rosaceae species was insufficient. In this study, a total of 333 GRAS genes were identified in six Rosaceae species, including 51 in strawberry (Fragaria vesca), 78 in apple (Malus domestica), 41 in black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis), 59 in European pear (Pyrus communis), 56 in Chinese rose (Rosa chinensis), and 48 in peach (Prunus persica). Motif analysis showed the VHIID domain, SAW motif, LR I region, and PFYRE motif were considerably conserved in the six Rosaceae species. All GRAS genes were divided into 10 subgroups according to phylogenetic analysis. A total of 15 species-specific duplicated clades and 3 lineage-specific duplicated clades were identified in six Rosaceae species. Chromosomal localization presented the uneven distribution of GRAS genes in six Rosaceae species. Duplication events contributed to the expression of the GRAS genes, and Ka/Ks analysis suggested the purification selection as a major force during the evolution process in six Rosaceae species. Cis-acting elements and GO analysis revealed that most of the GRAS genes were associated with various environmental stress in six Rosaceae species. Coexpression network analysis showed the mutual regulatory relationship between GRAS and bZIP genes, suggesting the ability of the GRAS gene to regulate abiotic stress in woodland strawberry. The expression pattern elucidated the transcriptional levels of FvGRAS genes in various tissues and the drought and salt stress in woodland strawberry, which were verified by RT-qPCR analysis. The evolution and functional analysis of GRAS genes provided insights into the further understanding of GRAS genes on the abiotic stress of Rosaceae species.
Key Message
In woodland strawberry, a brassinosteroid biosynthesis inhibitor propiconazole induced typical brassinosteroid-deficient phenotypes and decreased female fertility due to attenuated female ...gametophyte development.
Brassinosteroids (BRs) play roles in various aspects of plant development. We investigated the physiological roles of BRs in the woodland strawberry,
Fragaria vesca
. BR-level-dependent phenotypes were observed using a BR biosynthetic inhibitor, propiconazole (PCZ), and the most active natural BR, brassinolide (BL). Endogenous BL and castasterone, the active BRs, were below detectable levels in PCZ-treated woodland strawberry. The plants were typical BR-deficient phenotypes, and all phenotypes were restored by treatment with BL. These observations indicate that PCZ is an effective inhibitor of BR in woodland strawberry. Only one gene for each major step of BR biosynthesis in
Arabidopsis
is encoded in the woodland strawberry genome. BR biosynthetic genes are highly expressed during the early stage of fruit development. Emasculated flowers treated with BL failed to develop fruit, implying that BR is not involved in parthenocarpic fruit development. Similar to BR-deficient and BR-insensitive
Arabidopsis
mutants, female fertility was lower in PCZ-treated plants than in mock-treated plants due to failed attraction of the pollen tube to the ovule. In PCZ-treated plants, expression of
FveMYB98
, the homologous gene for
Arabidopsis MYB98
(a marker for synergid cells), was downregulated. Ovules were smaller in PCZ-treated plants than in mock-treated plants, and histological analysis implied that the development of more than half of female gametophytes was arrested at the early stage in PCZ-treated plants. Our findings explain how BRs function during female gametophyte development in woodland strawberry.
According to the phase change property of carbon dioxide and the rapid cooling ability of liquid nitrogen, an experimental system of quick-frozen strawberry by combined jet of carbon dioxide and ...liquid nitrogen was designed. Through a series of experiments, the pressure changes and jet outlet temperature at different nitrogen jet speeds at different temperatures were studied. Then, the effects of nitrogen injection speed at different low temperatures and different inlet positions in the quick-frozen room on the quick-frozen strawberry freezing rate was investigated. The final results show that when the jet speed of low-temperature nitrogen increases, the pressure loss in the flow process also increases gradually. At the same time, the speed of mixing will increase, and the disturbance will increase, and the outlet jet temperature will also decrease. When the nitrogen inlet speed was 0.2 m/s, the temperature between the strawberry was uniform. Different inlet and outlet positions had no influence on the freezing time of strawberry. Quick-freezing room (c) improves the heat transfer efficiency and makes the temperature of strawberries more uniform. The results obtained lay a foundation for further research and development of an efficient quick-frozen product device.
This reprint presents some recent results from applying original analytical methods to the most renowned hive matrices. Particular consideration was given to methods devoted to the attribution of the ...origin of honey and propolis, but also studies dealing with the chemical characterization of honey and other hive matrices are here reported. Attention has also been paid to the use of optimized methods of elemental analysis in several hive products for quality and safety purposes, but also for environmental biomonitoring. The treatment of the data was often achieved through multivariate analysis methods, which made it possible to obtain reliable classifications of honeys and propolis according to their botanic or geographical origin.
Pollination improves the yield of most crop species and contributes to one-third of global crop production, but comprehensive benefits including crop quality are still unknown. Hence, pollination is ...underestimated by international policies, which is particularly alarming in times of agricultural intensification and diminishing pollination services. In this study, exclusion experiments with strawberries showed bee pollination to improve fruit quality, quantity and market value compared with wind and self-pollination. Bee-pollinated fruits were heavier, had less malformations and reached higher commercial grades. They had increased redness and reduced sugar–acid–ratios and were firmer, thus improving the commercially important shelf life. Longer shelf life reduced fruit loss by at least 11%. This is accounting for 0.32 billion US$ of the 1.44 billion US$ provided by bee pollination to the total value of 2.90 billion US$ made with strawberry selling in the European Union 2009. The fruit quality and yield effects are driven by the pollination-mediated production of hormonal growth regulators, which occur in several pollination-dependent crops. Thus, our comprehensive findings should be transferable to a wide range of crops and demonstrate bee pollination to be a hitherto underestimated but vital and economically important determinant of fruit quality.
‘Seolhyang’ strawberry is harvested before it is fully ripened and treated with CO2 to extend the shelf-life. However, the volatile changes in the ‘Seolhyang’ strawberry after short-term CO2 ...treatment have not been investigated, although the volatile profile is an important quality attribute. Herein, we investigated the effect of short-term high CO2 treatment on the changes in the composition of volatile compounds in ‘Seolhyang’ strawberries at two ripening stages (i.e., half-red and bright-red) during cold storage using headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Furthermore, the effect of CO2 treatment on fruit quality with respect to the aroma was investigated. A total of 30 volatile compounds were identified. Storage increased the volatile compound concentrations, and the total concentration of volatiles in the CO2-treated strawberries was lower than that of the untreated strawberries during storage. The production of some characteristic strawberry volatiles (e.g., 4-methoxy-2,5-dimethyl-3(2H)-furanone) was inhibited in CO2-treated strawberries. However, CO2 treatment helped maintain the concentrations of hexanal and 2-hexenal, which are responsible for the fresh odor in strawberries. Interestingly, CO2 treatment suppressed the production of off-odor volatiles, acetaldehyde, and hexanoic acid during strawberry storage. Thus, short-term CO2 treatment may help maintain the fresh aroma of strawberries during cold storage.
•Pectin coatings enriched with WLE improved strawberry shelf-life.•WLE significantly reduced strawberry weight loss during storage.•Pectin-based coatings effectively preserved strawberries' bioactive ...compounds.
Fruits that are characterized by their fragile architecture are less durable and are a major source of waste. Thus, research on increasing the durability of such foods remains relevant. Pectin is an inexpensive and edible coating material derived from natural resources that can be used to preserve strawberries. The aim of the current research was to fortify pectin with grape pomace extract (GPE) and wine lees extract (WLE) that are rich in bioactive components. Physicochemical, microbiological and functional properties of coated and uncoated strawberries were investigated during the storage period (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20th day). GPE and WLE-supported pectin coatings helped preserve the antioxidant capacity, phenolic, anthocyanin and ascorbic acid contents of strawberries. Coated samples WLE-enriched exhibited significantly less weight loss compared to other samples. WLE coating was effective in inhibiting yeast mould populations on strawberries. WLE-enriched coatings acted as a wall material to preserve bioactive components and delayed quality changes compared to GPE, allowing them to reach a storage period of 20 days at 4 °C.
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Gene transcripts that show invariant abundance during development are ideal as reference genes (RGs) for accurate gene expression analyses, such as RNA blot analysis and reverse ...transcription-quantitative real time PCR (RT-qPCR) analyses. In a genome-wide analysis, we selected three "Commonly used" housekeeping genes (HKGs), fifteen "Traditional" HKGs, and nine novel genes as candidate RGs based on 80 publicly available transcriptome libraries that include data for receptacle development in eight strawberry cultivars.
The results of the multifaceted assessment consistently revealed that expression of the novel RGs showed greater stability compared with that of the "Commonly used" and "Traditional" HKGs in transcriptome and RT-qPCR analyses. Notably, the majority of stably expressed genes were associated with the ubiquitin proteasome system. Among these, two 26 s proteasome subunits, RPT6A and RPN5A, showed superior expression stability and abundance, and are recommended as the optimal RGs combination for normalization of gene expression during strawberry receptacle development.
These findings provide additional useful and reliable RGs as resources for the accurate study of gene expression during receptacle development in strawberry cultivars.
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