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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Crop and Product Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1544500

The key metabolic genes and networks regulating the fruit acidity and flavonoid of Prunus mume revealed via transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses

Provisionally accepted
Xuan Gao Xuan Gao Shuangshuang Wu Shuangshuang Wu Guosheng Lv Guosheng Lv Mengyang Wang Mengyang Wang Lingxiang Li Lingxiang Li Yahui Liu Yahui Liu Feng He Feng He Jia Xin Xiao Jia Xin Xiao *
  • Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The acidic taste of Mei fruit (Prunus mume) is a major contributor to its quality, but its formation mechanism remains unclear. Here, we unraveled the networks of organic acid and flavonoid metabolism in two Mei fruit. The results showed that the differentially expressed genes were mainly concentrated in the processes of carbohydrate derivative binding, carboxylic acid, and organic acid metabolism. While the differentially accumulated metabolites were mainly associated with flavone and flavonol biosynthesis and amino acid and carbon metabolism. Moreover, we identified key metabolites, such as citric and succinic acids, which may be central to the development of acidity in Mei fruit, and determined that they are under the regulatory influence of specific genes, including galactinol-sucrose-galactosyltransferase 5, mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase NPK1-like, glutamate receptor, and chalcone isomerase etc. Furthermore, transcription factors ERF027, bHLH92, bHLH35, and WRKY23 were identified as potential pivotal regulators within these networks. These results provide new insights into the metabolic regulation of acidity and flavonoid in Mei fruit.

    Keywords: Prunus mume, fruit quality, Citric Acid, Flavonoid, Metabolic genes

    Received: 13 Dec 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Gao, Wu, Lv, Wang, Li, Liu, He and Xiao. 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: Jia Xin Xiao, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, China

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