Watermelon melon "sweet gene" has been revealed

As a sweet and delicious world fruit, watermelons and melons belong to the same gourd crop. On November 2nd, Beijing time, Nature-Genetics published two results of the study on the genome of melon crops completed online in two long articles by the United States and foreign advantage units of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The two studies constructed a genome-wide variation map of watermelons and melons, revealing the domestication history of the two fruits and the genetic molecular mechanism of fruit quality.Xu Yongyang, co-author of the
paper and a researcher at Zhengzhou Fruit Tree Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that they joined forces with the Shenzhen Agricultural Genome Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Barcelona Genome Center in Spain, Qingdao Agricultural University, the Vegetable and Flower Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Agricultural University of China, and Kangkang in the United States. Nineteen domestic and foreign scientific research institutions, such as Nair University and the French Academy of Agricultural Sciences, have jointly constructed the world's first whole genome variation map of melons over a period of 5 years, which for the first time systematically explains the complex domestication history of melons and the genetic basis for the formation of important agro-artistic conditions.Zhao Guangwei, the first author of the
paper and an associate researcher at Zhengzhou Fruit Tree Institute, told China Science daily that the melon research team analyzed the genome variation of more than a thousand melon species resources and identified more than 5.6 million SNPs. A group structure analysis found that melons experienced at least three separate domestication events (two in India and one in Africa). Thin-skin melons and thick-skin melon subsethics are domesticated from different wild groups in India.
loss of bitter taste and the appearance of sweet taste are one of the most important characteristics selected in the process of domestication of gourd species. The researchers found that two different genes were associated with the loss of bitter taste in two melon subseeds, with thick-skin melons domesticated the CmBi gene and thin-skin melons domesticated the CmBt gene. Interestingly, they also found that the two subsethics also domesticated different genes in the process of losing their sour taste, which in turn led to the loss of bitter and sour taste in wild melons and the gain of sweetness. In addition, through genome-wide correlation analysis and other means, the team also located more than 200 candidate genes and locations related to melon bitter taste, acid taste, fruit size, fruit color and other sexual conditions.
watermelon was domesticated about 4,000 years ago. Xu Yong, chief scientist of the National Western Melon Industry Technology System and co-author of the paper, said that together with the Zhengzhou Fruit Tree Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Cornell University of the United States and the Agricultural Genome Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, they formed a research team, using single-molecule sequencing, optical mapping and Hi-C three-dimensional genome joint analysis, completed a new generation of watermelon genome fine mapping and domestication of historical analysis, the first systematic analysis of watermelon fruit quality evolution mechanism.Guo Shaogui, the first author of the
paper and a researcher at the Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forthan Sciences, told the China Science Journal that the watermelon research team analyzed more than 400 species resources based on a new generation of watermelon genome fine maps, identifying nearly 20 million SNPs. Through population structure analysis, they first clarified the evolutionary relationship between the seven species of watermelon, found that wild mucous seed watermelon is the closest population to modern cultivation of watermelon kinship, but also found the use of wild watermelon resistance improvement of the genome traces. In addition, 43 signaling points and candidate genes associated with the characteristics of sugar content, color and shape of fruit were identified, and important genes such as α-semi-lactose glycosidease gene ClAGA2, which was involved in the regulation of photosynthmatic product unloading, were functionally verified, revealing the secret of domestication of watermelon "sweet gene" for the first time.
, a researcher at the Institute of Human Genome Research, is a co-author of two papers. In an interview with China Science Daily, he pointed out that the species resources are the basis of breeding, and these two achievements provide a new theoretical framework and histological data for the study of melon species resources, as well as a large number of genetic resources and selection tools for the molecular breeding of melons, which have important scientific value and practical significance.
three German scientists, Murukarthick Jayakodi, Mona Schreiber and Martin Mascher, in the journal Nature Genetics. They believe that two genetic studies have revealed how domestication alters the fruit quality characteristics of melons and watermelons. These studies used methods such as population genetics and QTLs positioning to study the domestication history of melons and watermelons and provide important data support for breeders.
The above-mentioned research was supported by the Science and Technology Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the National Western Melon Industry Technology System, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key Research and Development Program, Beijing Scholars, the Pearl River Project of Guangdong Province, the Peacock Project of Shenzhen And the Dapeng New Area.
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