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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Byron, Georgia » Fruit and Tree Nut Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #413256
Research Project: Genetic Improvement of Stone Fruit Crops/Cultivars for the Southeastern United States

Location: Fruit and Tree Nut Research

Title: Transcriptomic analysis of peaches and nectarines reveals alternative mechanism for trichome formation

Author
item HUANG, CHUN-CHE - Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute
item CHEN, HAN-WEI - Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute
item HSIEH, JO-WEI - National Taiwan University
item LIN, YEN-CHUN - Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute
item LI, YI-PEI - National Taiwan University
item Chen, Chunxian
item SONG, YEN-FANG - National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center
item YIN, GUANG-CHIAN - National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center
item MAI, TE-LUN - National Taiwan University
item LI, YING-CHUNG - National Taiwan University
item TU, YUAN-KAI - Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute

Submitted to: BMC Plant Biology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/25/2025
Publication Date: 5/10/2025
Citation: Huang, C., Chen, H., Hsieh, J.A., Lin, Y., Li, Y., Chen, C., Song, Y., Yin, G., Mai, T., Li, Y., Tu, Y. 2025. Transcriptomic analysis of peaches and nectarines reveals alternative mechanism for trichome formation. BMC Plant Biology. 25. Article 620. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-025-06622-7.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-025-06622-7

Interpretive Summary: Peach fruit are hairy with the dominant GG or Gg genotype while nectarines are glabrous with the recessive gg genotype at the G locus. Peach hairs (trichomes) play a protective role. In this study, a peach to nectarine mutant accession was found to be the Gg genotype at the G locus. To elucidate the potential regulatory mechanism of glabrous skin formation in that accession, a comparative transcriptome analysis was performed among that accession, a peach with GG, a peach with Gg, and a nectarine with gg. Principle component analysis indicated that the GG and Gg peaches were clustered closely, and the gg and Gg nectarines contained some variants. High correlations of gene expressions between the GG and Gg peaches were revealed among PpMYB25, PpMYB26, and other upstream and downstream genes at the locus. In contrast, no correlations between the Gg and gg nectarines were detected. The results implied that an alternative mechanism might exist to control the absence of hair in that Gg nectarine, which need a further investigation.

Technical Abstract: Trichomes in Prunus persica (L.) Batsch are crucial specialized structures that play a protective role against both biotic and abiotic stresses. The fruits with and without trichomes are respectively named as peach and nectarine. At the genetic level, the formation of trichome in peach is controlled by a single gene, PpMYB25, at the G locus. Peach (GG or Gg) is dominant to nectarine (gg), but such regulatory role was reported in a small-scale accession. In this study, we performed large-scale genotype and phenotype screening on 295 accessions. Almost all accessions supported the casual relationship between trichome formation and PpMYB25. However, a peach to nectarine mutant, named Maravilha Nectarine Mutant (MN), was discovered to possess a putative functional PpMYB25 gene sequence (Gg) but revealed nectarine phenotype. Comparative transcriptomic analyses revealed that PpMYB25 transcript was absent in MN. Correlation analyses also demonstrated that the PpMYB25-mediated regulatory network was abolished in MN. In summary, our results demonstrated an alternative mechanism beyond genetic regulation on trichome formation.