ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Functional and Applied Plant Genomics
This article is part of the Research TopicMolecular Mechanisms of Fruit Quality Formation in Fruit Trees, Volume IIView all articles
Characterization of CXE genes in pineapple and their aroma-related expression during fruit ripening
Provisionally accepted
Junting Feng1,2
Wenxin Xu3,4Tangxiu Li3
Jing Wu5You Wang4Junhu He4*Aiping Luan4
Chengjie Chen4*
WuQiang Ma3*OKANDZE POHO Pérol Carzorel6Shuqiang He4- 1Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Haikou, China
- 2Institute of Tropical Bioscience and Biotechnology, Haikou, China
- 3Hainan University School of Tropical Agriculture and Forestry, Haikou, China
- 4Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences Tropical Crops Genetic Resources Institute, Haikou, China
- 5Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences Haikou Experimental Station, Haikou, China
- 6National Centre for Crop Disease Control, Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, Brazzaville, Rwanda
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Carboxylesterases (CXEs) are ester hydrolyzing enzymes closely associated with the degradation of volatile esters and aroma release in fruit. Pineapple possesses a strong, ester-rich aroma, yet its CXE gene family has not been characterized. Here, we performed a genome-wide identification and analysis of the pineapple CXE family, detected 20 members, and pinpointed AcCXE4 and AcCXE7 as key negative regulators of aroma accumulation and prime candidates for aroma-oriented breeding. Phylogenetic comparison with CXEs from Arabidopsis, tomato, strawberry, Nanguo pear, and peach resolved five clades, in which AcCXE4 grouped with PuCXE15, a reported aroma-related gene in Nanguo pear, while AcCXE7 clustered with tomato SlCXE1 and AcCXE3 with apple MdCXE1, suggesting these members participate in ester metabolism in pineapple and are potential contributors to fruit-aroma formation. Besides, although AcCXE13 and AcCXE20 show conserved gene structure and sequence, their exon numbers and motif architectures differ from other AcCXEs, implying functional specialization. Comparative genomics indicated that family expansion in pineapple was driven primarily by tandem duplication and large segmental duplication. Integrating cis-regulatory element profiling, transcriptome analyses, and experimental validation, we found that most AcCXEs are likely responsive to light and hormone signaling (including the jasmonate pathway) and to abiotic stress cues. Several AcCXE genes exhibited decreasing expression across cultivars, tissues, and developmental stages, showing negative correlations with aroma accumulation, with AcCXE4 and AcCXE7 displaying the strongest association with pineapple aroma formation. Collectively, this work systematically defines the pineapple CXE family and highlights priority targets to inform molecular improvement of fruit aroma.
Keywords: Pineapple, CXE gene family, Carboxylesterase, Esters, aroma
Received: 28 Oct 2025; Accepted: 17 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Feng, Xu, Li, Wu, Wang, He, Luan, Chen, Ma, Carzorel and He. 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:
Junhu He, hejunhu@catas.cn
Chengjie Chen, ccj@catas.cn
WuQiang Ma, wuqiangma@hainanu.edu.cn
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