Journal Article

Genome-wide analysis of the passion fruit invertase gene family reveals involvement of PeCWINV5 in hexose accumulation

Huang, Dongmei, Chen, Ge, Wu, Bin, Li, Hongli, Song, Shun, Hu, Wenbin, Yang, Liu, Ma, Funing, Xing, Wenting, Xu, Yi, Huang, Haijie

2024

Overview

Background Invertases (INVs) are key enzymes in sugar metabolism, cleaving sucrose into glucose and fructose and playing an important role in plant development and the stress response, however, the INV gene family in passion fruit has not been systematically reported. Results In this study, a total of 16 PeINV genes were identified from the passion fruit genome and named according to their subcellular location and chromosome position. These include six cell wall invertase (CWINV) genes, two vacuolar invertase (VINV) genes, and eight neutral/alkaline invertase (N/AINV) genes. The gene structures, phylogenetic tree, and cis-acting elements of PeINV gene family were predicted using bioinformatics methods. Results showed that the upstream promoter region of the PeINV genes contained various response elements; particularly, PeVINV2 , PeN/AINV3 , PeN/AINV5 , PeN/AINV6 , PeN/AINV7 , and PeN/AINV8 had more response elements. Additionally, the expression profiles of PeINV genes under different abiotic stresses (drought, salt, cold temperature, and high temperature) indicated that PeCWINV5 , PeCWINV6 , PeVINV1 , PeVINV2 , PeN/AINV2 , PeN/AINV3 , PeN/AINV6 , and PeN/AINV7 responded significantly to these abiotic stresses, which was consistent with cis-acting element prediction results. Sucrose, glucose, and fructose are main soluble components in passion fruit pulp. The contents of total soluble sugar, hexoses, and sweetness index increased significantly at early stages during fruit ripening. Transcriptome data showed that with an increase in fruit development and maturity, the expression levels of PeCWINV2 , PeCWINV5 , and PeN/AINV3 exhibited an up-regulated trend, especially for PeCWINV5 which showed highest abundance, this correlated with the accumulation of soluble sugar and sweetness index. Transient overexpression results demonstrated that the contents of fructose, glucose and sucrose increased in the pulp of PeCWINV5 overexpressing fruit. It is speculated that this cell wall invertase gene, PeCWINV5 , may play an important role in sucrose unloading and hexose accumulation. Conclusion In this study, we systematically identified INV genes in passion fruit for the first time and further investigated their physicochemical properties, evolution, and expression patterns. Furthermore, we screened out a key candidate gene involved in hexose accumulation. This study lays a foundation for further study on INV genes and will be beneficial on the genetic improvement of passion fruit breeding.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Abiotic stress / Accumulation / Agriculture / beta-fructofuranosidase / beta-Fructofuranosidase - genetics / beta-Fructofuranosidase - metabolism / Bioinformatics / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Botanical research / Cell walls / Cellular stress response / chromosome mapping / cold / Developmental stages / Drought / Enzymes / Evolutionary genetics / family / Food quality / Fructose / Fruit - genetics / Fruit - growth & development / fruit pulp / fruiting / Fruits / Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Gene family / Genes / Genes, Plant / Genetic aspects / Genetic improvement / Genome, Plant / genome-wide association study / Genomes / Genomic analysis / Glucose / Glucose metabolism / Hexose / Hexoses / Hexoses - metabolism / High temperature / Homeostasis / Hydrolases / Invertase / Life Sciences / Metabolism / Monosaccharides / Multigene Family / Passiflora - enzymology / Passiflora - genetics / Passion fruit / passion fruits / Phylogenetics / Phylogeny / Physicochemical properties / Physiological aspects / Plant breeding / Plant genetics / Plant growth / Plant Proteins - genetics / Plant Proteins - metabolism / Plant Sciences / Plastids / Position (location) / prediction / promoter regions / Proteins / Pulp / Regulatory sequences / Ripening / stress response / Stress, Physiological - genetics / Stresses / Sucrose / Sugar / Sugar metabolism / Sugars / Sweetness / temperature / transcriptome / Transcriptomes / Tree Biology / Unloading / vacuoles