Transcriptome and genome analysis to identify C2H2 genes participating in low-temperature conditioning-alleviated postharvest chilling injury of peach fruit

Objectives:This work intended to identify candidate C2H2 genes participating in low-temperature conditioning(LTC)-alleviated postharvest chilling injury of peach fruit.Materials and Methods:For LTC treatment,fruit were pre-stored at 10℃for 5 d and then transferred to 0℃storage.Fruit firmness was measured by a hardness tester.H_(2)O_(2)content was determined by luminosity measurement model using a multifunctional enzyme labeler.Identification of C2H2 family members was performed by HMMSCAN according to peach genome.The cis-acting element of gene promoters was analyzed using the Plant CARE website.Weighted gene coexpression network analysis(WGCNA)was performed by the WGCNA package in the BMK Cloud platform.Results:LTC treatment decreased flesh browning rate and H_(2)O_(2)production of‘Beijing No.9’peach.Transcription factor identification of differentially expressed genes in 0℃and the LTC treatment indicated that peach C2H2 participated in the regulation of chilling injury.A total of 47 C2H2 genes were identified based on peach genome.Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(qRT-PCR),phylogenetic analysis and promoter cis-acting element analysis revealed that ZFP21 was involved in the regulation of LTC-alleviated chilling injury in peach.WGCNA and dual luciferase assay suggested that ZFP21 participated in LTC-alleviated chilling injury by downregulating the expression of reactive oxygen species-related genes Rboh.Conclusions:Our investigation,based on genome and RNA-seq,revealed that ZFP21 was involved in LTC treatment-alleviated chilling injury of peach fruit.This work is useful for the identification of peach cold tolerance-related genes and the study of C2H2 family in peach.