Metabolic profiling during peach fruit development and ripening reveals the metabolic networks which underpin each developmental stage

LOMBARDO, VA; OSORIO SONIA; J BORSANI; LAUXMANN, M.; BUSTAMANTE C.; C BUDDE; ANDREO, CARLOS S; LARA, MARÍA VALERIA; FERNIE, A.; MARIA FABIANA DRINCOVICH

PLANT PHYSIOLOGY.

AMER SOC PLANT BIOLOGISTS

Lugar: Rockville; Año: 2011 vol. 157 p. 1696 - 1710

0032-0889

Fruit from Rosaceous species collectively display a great variety of flavours and textures, as well as a generally high-content of nutritionally beneficial metabolites. However, relatively little analysis of metabolic networks in rosaceous fruit has been reported. Among rosaceous species, peach (Prunus persica L. Batsch) has stone fruits composed of a juicy mesocarp and lignified endocarp. Here, peach mesocarp metabolic networks were studied across development using metabolomics and analysis of key regulatory enzymes. Principal component analysis of peach metabolic composition revealed clear metabolic shifts from early through late development stages and subsequently during post-harvest ripening. Early developmental stages were characterized by a substantial decrease in protein abundance and high levels of bioactive polyphenols and amino acids, which are substrates for the phenylpropanoid and lignin pathways during stone hardening. Sucrose levels showed a large increase during development, reflecting translocation from the leaf, whilst the importance of galactinol and raffinose is also inferred. Our study further suggests that post-transcriptional mechanisms are key for metabolic regulation at early stages. In contrast to early developmental stages, a decrease in amino acid levels is coupled to an induction of transcripts encoding amino acid and organic acid-catabolic enzymes during ripening. These data are consistent with the mobilization of amino acids to support respiration. In addition, sucrose cycling, suggested by the parallel increase of transcripts encoding sucrose-degradative and -synthetic enzymes, appears to operate during post-harvest ripening. When taken together, these data highlight singular metabolic programs for peach development and may allow the identification of key factors related to agronomic traits of this important crop species