Sugar Metabolism and Transcriptome Analysis Reveal Key Sugar Transporters during <i>Camellia oleifera</i> Fruit Development

<i>Camellia oleifera</i> is a widely planted woody oil crop with economic significance because it does not occupy cultivated land. The sugar-derived acetyl-CoA is the basic building block in fatty acid synthesis and oil synthesis in <i>C. oleifera</i> fruit; however, sugar me...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yu He, Ruifan Chen, Ying Yang, Guichan Liang, Heng Zhang, Xiaomei Deng, Ruchun Xi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-01-01
Series:International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/2/822
Description
Summary:<i>Camellia oleifera</i> is a widely planted woody oil crop with economic significance because it does not occupy cultivated land. The sugar-derived acetyl-CoA is the basic building block in fatty acid synthesis and oil synthesis in <i>C. oleifera</i> fruit; however, sugar metabolism in this species is uncharacterized. Herein, the changes in sugar content and metabolic enzyme activity and the transcriptomic changes during <i>C. oleifera</i> fruit development were determined in four developmental stages (CR6: young fruit formation; CR7: expansion; CR9: oil transformation; CR10: ripening). CR7 was the key period of sugar metabolism since it had the highest amount of soluble sugar, sucrose, and glucose with a high expression of genes related to sugar transport (four sucrose transporters (SUTs) or and one SWEET-like gene, also known as a sugar, will eventually be exported transporters) and metabolism. The significant positive correlation between their expression and sucrose content suggests that they may be the key genes responsible for sucrose transport and content maintenance. Significantly differentially expressed genes enriched in the starch and sucrose metabolism pathway were observed in the CR6 versus CR10 stages according to KEGG annotation. The 26 enriched candidate genes related to sucrose metabolism provide a molecular basis for further sugar metabolism studies in <i>C. oleifera</i> fruit.
ISSN:1661-6596
1422-0067