A paper entitled “Involvement of an ethylene response factor in chlorophyll degradation during citrus fruit degreening” was recently online published at The Plant Journal (IF=5.972). Dr. Xue-ren Yin, Miss Xiu-lan Xie and Prof. Kong-song Chen from the Fruit Quality Biology Research Team of Zhejiang University are first- and corresponding-author.
In most fruit, chlorophyll degradation occurs during development or postharvest storage, such as citrus. Previously, we have been identified 126 CitAP2/ERF from citrus genome database (Molecular Biology Report, 2014, 41: 4261-4271), and performed the association analysis for AP2/ERF gene and chlorophyll degradation. Present research further indicated that CitERF13 is an important regulator on citrus fruit degreening. Using dual luciferase and yeast one-hybrid assays, CitERF13 was shown to be a potential direct regulator on CitPPH promoter, leading to accumulation of the metabolite of PPH. The function of CitERF13 was further confirmed with transient/stable over-expression in N. tabacum leaves and/or citrus fruit (navel orange ‘Newhall’ and mandarin ‘Ponkan’).
This work was supported by the Program of International Science and Technology Cooperation and the National Basic Research Program of China.
