ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Bioinformatics
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1582209
Integrated metabolomic and transcriptomic analysis provide insights into the browning of walnut endocarps
Provisionally accepted
- 1Longnan Normal University, Longnan, China
- 2Chengxian Walnut Technology Service Center, Longnan, China
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Walnut (Juglans regia L.) is an important woody plant worldwide and endocarps color affects the economic value of walnut. During the postharvest processing and storage of walnut, the endocarps often browning. Browning has become a major obstacle to walnut storage, not only affecting the taste and flavor of walnuts, but also reducing nutritional quality and commercial value. In the present study, to elucidate the molecular mechanism of walnut endocarps browning, the ultrastructure, physiological characteristics, transcriptomic and metabolomic of walnut endocarps at different storage periods were performed. Integrated transcriptomics and metabolomics analysis showed many differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and metabolites (DAMs) were invovled in the pathways of flavonoid biosynthesis, amino acid biosynthesis, unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis, phenylalanine metabolism, and oxidative phosphorylation. Among them, the expression levels of DEGs related to flavonoid metabolism and antioxidant activity were significant differences during ther storage periods. In addition, the expression of stress-related transcription factors AP2/ERF, WRKY, bHLH, HSF, and MYB that involved in the phenylpropanoids metabolic pathway were significantly up-regulated during the browning process. This study comprehensively analyzed the causes of walnut endocarp browning, providing insights for studying the molecular mechanism of endocarp browning during storage and processing of walnuts and other fruits.
Keywords: Walnut, Endocarps, Browning, Metabolomics, Transcriptomics, RNA-Seq
Received: 24 Feb 2025; Accepted: 11 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Wang, Chen, Hu and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yifeng Wang, Longnan Normal University, Longnan, China
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