The mechanism of cross talk between seed and flesh and its application for high quality fruit production

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K14855
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Horticultural science
• Research Institution: Kyoto Prefectural University
• Principal Investigator: ITAI AKIHIRO 京都府立大学, 生命環境科学研究科, 教授 (10252876)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 及川 彰 山形大学, 農学部, 准教授 (50442934)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 花粉親 / トランスクリプトーム / メタボローム / ホルモノーム

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In order to elucidate the mechanism of cross talk between seed and flesh, the effect of self and cross pollination on fruit characteristics was investigated in Japanese pear ‘Osa Gold’, a self-compatible mutant of ‘Gold Nijisseiki’. We found that there were large differences in fruit diameter, length, weight and seed number between self and cross pollination. We also found that there were differences in 16 out of about 200 primary metabolites between self and cross pollination at harvest. RNA-seq analysis revealed that changes in the expression of many genes associated with plant hormone and transcription regulating factor during fruit growth were observed between two combinations. Similar pattern of gene expression between self and cross pollination in both seed and flesh indicated cross talk between seed and flesh. This cross talk may be used for developing new techniques in pear cultivation.

Free Research Field

果樹園芸学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

種子と果肉の情報伝達機構は未解明であった。今回花粉親が果肉に及ぼす影響をトランスクリプトームやメタボロームなどのオーム解析により、網羅的に現象と遺伝子発現機構を明らかにすることができ、学術的な新たな知見を得ることが出来た。またこの機構を元に花粉親を選ぶという単純な方法により、母親品種の果肉形質を最大限発揮できる栽培技術方法の開発が可能になるため、今後の果樹栽培の発展に寄与できるものと思われ、さらなる研究を進めることにより、産業的な発展が期待できる。