The innovative team at the Zhengzhou Fruit Tree Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has recently discovered the key gene regulating the firmness of sweet cherry fruit. Their research findings have been published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal.
Firm-Flesh Sweet Cherry. Image provided by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Sweet cherries naturally have soft and juicy fruits, which are advantageous for species propagation and survival, being the result of long-term natural evolution. After artificial cultivation, sweet cherries with firm flesh, good storage and transportation capabilities, and a long shelf life are highly favored by consumers. However, the key genes regulating the firmness of sweet cherry fruits are still unclear.
This study successfully located and cloned the crucial gene, a serine carboxypeptidase, controlling the firmness of sweet cherry fruits using a hybrid first-generation population of firm-flesh sweet cherry cultivars.
Further research revealed that changes in fruit firmness are due to the presence of a 5200-base pair insertion in the coding region of this gene, leading to gene inactivation. Researchers conducted gene functional validation and developed functional molecular markers for fruit firmness.
The findings of this study provide genetic resources for the genetic improvement of fruit firmness traits in sweet cherries. This research was supported by projects such as the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences' Science and Technology Innovation Project.
Related paper information: https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.14291
