In some genotypes of non-climacteric sweet cherry, ethylene induces the development of a clearly defined abscission zone between the fruit and pedicel. The aim of this study is to identify and analyze the genetic components of sweet cherry abscission in response to exogenous ethylene application. We performed a time course transcriptome analysis of the fruit-pedicel abscission zone treated with exogenously applied ethylene. Three unique genotypes were used, representing three distinct classes of phenotypes of fruit-pedicel abscission zone formation in sweet cherry. RNA-seq captured a global snapshot of the transcriptome at each time point sampled. The transcriptome data was assembled and relative expression values for each gene (RPKM) were calculated. Genes with at least a five-fold difference in expression between treatment and control were selected for annotation using Blast2GO and polymorphism analysis. Gene ontology and pathway information identified both known and cherry specific gene networks involved in the abscission process. In the future, the polymorphisms embedded in differentially expressed abscission related genes will be validated in populations segregating for ethylene-induced abscission. Additionally, they are expected to be used as gene-based markers for the development of varieties that exhibit desired traits for new and developing harvest technologies.
