Project description:Melon is a globally commercialized fruit, and Fusarium rot disease poses a significant threat to post-harvest losses. The conventional use of fungicides raises concerns about chemical residues, prompting exploration into alternative technologies such as Pulsed Light (PL). While PL has been effective in controlling infections in various fruits and vegetables, the precise physiological responses and molecular mechanisms in melon fruits remain incompletely understood. In this study, melon fruits infected with the Fusarium pallidoroseum were treated with different doses of PL (0, 6, 9, and 12 J cm-2), and the impact on both fungal control and fruit shelf life extension was investigated. The 9 J cm-2 dose emerged as the most effective in controlling fungal growth without causing damage, inducing beneficial responses. This optimal PL dose upregulated genes in the lignan biosynthesis pathway and the infection upregulated genes involved with systemic acquired resistance, triggered by the pipecolic acid. In this way, the PL treatment and the infection trigger a double mechanism of resistance in melon fruits. A second and third experiment focused on evaluating the extension of melon fruit shelf life and the safe manipulation window post-PL treatment. The results revealed an average shelf life extension of six days and a safe manipulation period of 24 hours. The extension in shelf life was associated with a deviation in information flux from the ethylene biosynthesis to upregulation of the polyamine biosynthesis pathway, which produces nitric oxide, a product that can inhibit ethylene biosynthesis and its action. Furthermore, the observed 24-hour safety period against fungal infection post-PL treatment was characterized as a memory response resistance caused by the upregulation of lignan biosynthesis, which is a potential and efficient alternative to chemical products like fungicides. Overall, this study provides insights into the transcriptional molecular mechanisms through which PL promotes systemic acquired resistance and extends the shelf life of melon fruits.

Project description:Viruses are among the most destructive and difficult to control plant pathogens. Melon (Cucumismelo L.) has become the model species for the agriculturally important Cucurbitaceae family. Approaches that take advantage of recently developed genomic tools in melon are being extremely useful for understanding viral pathogenesis and can contribute to the identification of target genes to breed new resistant cultivars. In this work, we have used a recently described melon microarray for transcriptome profiling of two melon cultivars infected with two strains of Melon necrotic spot virus (MNSV) that only differ on their 3´-untranslated regions. Tissues of melon plants from cultivars Out of 7566 and 7074 genes deregulated by MNSV-Mα5 and MNSV-Mα5/3’264, 1851 and 1356, respectively, were strain-specific. Likewise, MNSV-Mα5/3’264 specifically deregulated 2925 and 1618 genes in Planters Jumbo and Tendral, respectively. Thus, significantly affected GO categories were clearly different for the different virus/host combinations. Grouping genes according to their patterns of expression allowed the identification of two groups specifically deregulated by MNSV-Mα5/3’264 with respect to MNSV-Mα5 in Tendral, and one group antagonistically regulated in Planters Jumbo vs. Tendral after MNSV-Mα5/3’264 infection. Genes in these three groups belong to a diversity of functional classes, and no obvious regulatory commonalities were identified. When data on MNSV-Mα5/Tendral infections were compared to equivalent data on cucumber mosaic virus or watermelon mosaic virus infections, cytokinin-O-glucosyltransferase2 was identified as the only gene deregulated by the three viruses, with infections dynamics correlating with the amplitude of transcriptome remodeling. Both common and strain-specific changes, as well as common but also cultivar-specific changes, have been identified by profiling transcriptomes of plants from two melon cultivars infected with two MNSV strains. No obvious regulatory features shared among deregulated genes have been identified, pointing toward regulation through differential functional implications. Viruses are among the most destructive and difficult to control plant pathogens. Melon (Cucumismelo L.) has become the model species for the agriculturally important Cucurbitaceae family. Approaches that take advantage of recently developed genomic tools in melon are being extremely useful for understanding viral pathogenesis and can contribute to the identification of target genes to breed new resistant cultivars. In this work, we have used a recently described melon microarray for transcriptome profiling of two melon cultivars infected with two strains of Melon necrotic spot virus (MNSV) that only differ on their 3´-untranslated regions. Tissues of melon plants from cultivars Out of 7566 and 7074 genes deregulated by MNSV-Mα5 and MNSV-Mα5/3’264, 1851 and 1356, respectively, were strain-specific. Likewise, MNSV-Mα5/3’264 specifically deregulated 2925 and 1618 genes in Planters Jumbo and Tendral, respectively. Thus, significantly affected GO categories were clearly different for the different virus/host combinations. Grouping genes according to their patterns of expression allowed the identification of two groups specifically deregulated by MNSV-Mα5/3’264 with respect to MNSV-Mα5 in Tendral, and one group antagonistically regulated in Planters Jumbo vs. Tendral after MNSV-Mα5/3’264 infection. Genes in these three groups belong to a diversity of functional classes, and no obvious regulatory commonalities were identified. When data on MNSV-Mα5/Tendral infections were compared to equivalent data on cucumber mosaic virus or watermelon mosaic virus infections, cytokinin-O-glucosyltransferase2 was identified as the only gene deregulated by the three viruses, with infections dynamics correlating with the amplitude of transcriptome remodeling. Both common and strain-specific changes, as well as common but also cultivar-specific changes, have been identified by profiling transcriptomes of plants from two melon cultivars infected with two MNSV strains. No obvious regulatory features shared among deregulated genes have been identified, pointing toward regulation through differential functional implications.

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