Identification of small RNAs with roles in the development of organoleptic properties in strawberry fruit

SABBIONE, A.; DAURELIO, L.D.; VEGGETI, A.; DOTTO, M.

Salta

Congreso; LV Annual SAIB Meeting and XIV PABMB Congress (SAIB); 2019

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular (SAIB)

Fruit?s nutritional quality and sensory attraction are largely determined by the composition and amount of secondary metabolites, which contribute to the content of soluble solids, carotenoids, vitamins, antioxidants and nutrient content. An increasing interest in the production of fruits with nutritionally optimized secondary metabolite contents has emerged in the last few years, particularly through the study of regulatory networks that modulate the metabolism of these compounds. Small RNAs (smRNAs) are a broad class of RNA molecules ranging between 21 and 24-nt that participate in the regulation of gene expression at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. Their role in the regulation of the content of secondary metabolites and other aspects related to fruit?s organoleptic properties, such as texture and color, has been little explored so far. In this work we used a genomic approach in order to identify changes in the content of miRNAs, ta-siRNAs and phasiRNAs in strawberry fruits during ripening and identified their target genes. For this, we analyzed smRNA-seq, RNA-seq and degradome data from two different strawberry cultivars (Fragaria x ananassa cv. Hongjia and Fragaria x ananassa cv. Toyonaka) at different ripening stages and identified 42 previously uncharacterized loci producing phasiRNAs and 33 differentially expressed miRNAs during maturation. Among these, we identified several smRNAs regulating genes related to the development of organoleptic properties during strawberry fruit ripening, indicating a fundamental role of these regulatory molecules in this process.