Deciphering gene networks involved in fruit texture evolution during cold storage in 16 apple varieties.

Fruit crop species, and particularly apple (Malus x domestica), are an important component of human diet. Most apples can usually be stored for several months before consumption in controlled environments (cold temperature, controlled atmosphere), thus slowing down the developmental processes associated with maturation. During this storage period, one of the most significant modification occurs to the quality of the fruit texture. Indeed, some varieties are known to develop undesirable characteristics such as softness, loss of crispiness, or mealiness. Physiological and biochemical studies are currently being performed in several research groups to understand the basis of these changes. However, it is only recently that genomic approaches have been used to investigate fruit maturation.
To understand the molecular bases of fruit maturation, we developed a transcriptomic approach using a 120k AryANE microarray (1). Within the frame of the EU-FP7-Fruitbreedomics project, 16 varieties were characterised with sensory, instrumental and transcriptomic analyses over four months of cold storage, during two consecutive years. The objective is to identify differentially expressed genes and gene networks associated (i) with fruit maturation, (ii) fruit texture changes. Results from this study will provide us with an overall picture of the gene networks involved in fruit maturity development, and may allow us to identify early markers associated with fruit texture deterioration.
(1)Celton et al., New Phytol, 2014. In Press.