ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1615281
Metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses provide insights into red pigmentation in peel of loquat (Eriobotrya japonica)
Provisionally accepted
- Institute of Fruit Research, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fuzhou, China
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Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) is a subtropical evergreen tree native to China. Generally, the pigments accumulated in the fruits of cultivated loquats are carotenoids rather than anthocyanins. In this study, we showed that the peel of 'Shanpaisanhao' loquats can accumulate anthocyanins and turn red. We further investigated the mechanisms underlying anthocyanin accumulation in the redpigmented peels of 'Shanpaisanhao' loquats. RNA-seq analysis demonstrated that anthocyanin accumulation in loquat peel is associated with the upregulation of anthocyanin biosynthetic and transport genes as well as the transcriptional factor EjMYB10. Transient overexpression and dual luciferase assays showed that EjMYB10 could induce weak anthocyanin accumulation in tobacco leaves when co-expressed with PsbHLH3, and activate the promoters of EjF3′H, EjANS and EjUFGT.These results provide information for further elucidating the molecular mechanism of anthocyanin accumulation in the peel of SP3H loquat and for breeding of new red-pigmented loquat cultivars.
Keywords: Loquat, RNA-Seq, anthocyanin biosynthesis, EjMYB10, anthocyanin-targeted metabolome
Received: 22 Apr 2025; Accepted: 26 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Chen, Su, Deng, Jiang and Zheng. 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:
Jimou Jiang, Institute of Fruit Research, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fuzhou, China
Shaoquan Zheng, Institute of Fruit Research, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fuzhou, China
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