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Article|10 Jan 2021|OPEN
Induced defense response in red mango fruit against Colletotrichum gloeosporioides
Pradeep Kumar Sudheeran1 , Noa Sela2 , Mira Carmeli-Weissberg3 , Rinat Ovadia4 , Sayantan Panda5 , Oleg Feygenberg1 , Dalia Maurer1 , Michal Oren-Shamir4 , Asaph Aharoni5 and Noam Alkan,1 ,
1Department of Postharvest Science of Fresh Produce, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, P.O. Box 15159HaMaccabim Road 68, Rishon LeZion 7505101, Israel
2Department of Plant Pathology and Weed Research, ARO, Volcani Center, Rishon LeZion 7505101, Israel
3Department of Fruit Tree Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, PO Box 6, Bet- Dagan 7505101, Israel
4Department of Ornamental Plants and Agricultural Biotechnology, ARO, Volcani Center, P.O. Box 15159HaMaccabim Road 68, Rishon LeZion 7505101, Israel
5Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
*Corresponding author. E-mail: noamal@volcani.agri.gov.il

Horticulture Research 8,
Article number: 17 (2021)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41438-020-00452-4
Views: 956

Received: 13 Jul 2020
Revised: 22 Nov 2020
Accepted: 07 Dec 2020
Published online: 10 Jan 2021

Abstract

Mango fruit exposed to sunlight develops red skin and are more resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses. Here we show that harvested red mango fruit that was exposed to sunlight at the orchard is more resistant than green fruit to Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. LCMS analysis showed high amounts of antifungal compounds, as glycosylated flavonols, glycosylated anthocyanins, and mangiferin in red vs. green mango skin, correlated with higher antioxidant and lower ROS. However, also the green side of red mango fruit that has low levels of flavonoids was resistant, indicated induced resistance. Transcriptomes of red and green fruit inoculated on their red and green sides with C. gloeosporioides were analyzed. Overall, in red fruit skin, 2,187 genes were upregulated in response to C. gloeosporioides. On the green side of red mango, upregulation of 22 transcription factors and 33 signaling-related transcripts indicated induced resistance. The RNA-Seq analysis suggests that resistance of the whole red fruit involved upregulation of ethylene, brassinosteroid, and phenylpropanoid pathways. To conclude, red fruit resistance to fungal pathogen was related to both flavonoid toxicity and primed resistance of fruit that was exposed to light at the orchard.