Recently, the watermelon genetics breeding and cultivation innovation team of Zhengzhou Fruit Research Instituteof the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)and Hainan University jointly published a paper in Science China Life Sciences titled "Watermelon domestication was shaped by stepwise selection and regulation of the metabolome "research paper. It built the first complete metabolome database of watermelon fruit, and analyzed the sequence and regulatory mechanism of taste and flavor domestication in watermelon evolution history.
Fruit quality and genetic domestication have been the focus of research in horticultural crops. However, little is known about the domestication sequence and regulation of most quality traits in watermelon. In this paper, genome-wide association analysis of watermelon metabolome was conducted to reveal the stepwise selection and regulatory mechanism of major taste and flavor traits during watermelon evolution. The results showed that cucurbitins (bitter taste) and flavonoids (astringency taste) were negatively selected in the differentiation stage of watermelon, monosaccharides (sweet taste) and carotenoids (color) were positively selected in the domestication process, and organic acids such as malic acid and citric acid (flavor) were selected in the improvement process. The main effect sites and key genes controlling the accumulation of these selected substances were found, cloned and identified, the gene clusters involved in cucurbitin synthesis pathway in watermelon were and deeply analyzed. In addition, it was found for the first time that C. lanatus edible seed watermelon may be an intermediate type in the domestication process from wild type to sweet watermelon through the domestication sites of metabolome and major metabolites.
Phylogeny and metabolic profiling of watermelon accessions
Prof. Wenge Liu from Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute，Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and Prof. Luo Jie from SanyaNanfan Research Institute of Hainan University and Hainan Yazhou Bay Seed Laboratory are the corresponding authors of this paper. Dr. Yuan Pingli and Dr. He Nan from Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute and postdoctor Xu Congping from Yazhou Bay Seed Laboratory of Hainan Province are the co-first authors of this paper.This research wassupported byAgricultural Science and TechnologyInnovation Program(CAAS-ASTIP-ZFRI-07), National Key R&D Program of China(2018YFD0100704), the China Agriculture Research System(CARS-25-03), theNational Natural Science Foundation of China(31672178, 31471893).
By Zhu Hongju
zhuhongju@caas.cn