Transcript and Sequence Analysis of S-RNases in Self-Compatible Tetraploid Chinese Cherry (Prunus pseudocerasus L.)

Chinese cherry （Prunus pseudocerasus L.） is an allotetraploid species and exhibits natural self-compatibility.However,the full-length cDNA sequences,functional analysis and the transcripts of S-RNase alleles in Chinese cherry cultivars are not known.In the two cultivars Taixiaohongying and Laiyang Short Cherry with S1S2S3S4 genotypes,two S-RNases were transcribed in Northern blotting,and the two full-length cDNAs of S-RNase were cloned and analyzed.As the result,the transcribed S-RNases were S1-RNase and S2-RNase.The two complete cDNA sequences of S1-RNase and S2-RNase were registered as EU073938 and EU073939,respectively,and had characteristic structure of rosaceous S-RNases based on their sequences indicating that they had normal function for S-RNase in the style.The S3-RNase and S4-RNase were not transcribed in the style and were nonfunctional for S-RNase,so S3m and S4m could be used to represent the nonfunctional S3-RNase and S4-RNase.The phylogenetic analysis implied that the S-RNases of Prunus,including Chinese cherry,had lower intra-specific similarity and diverged earlier than the divergence of species in Prunus.

Baliwang,an Excellent Line of Chinese Cherry

An excellent individual plant was found from the seedling trees of Chinese cherry(Prunus pseudocerasus),and was grafted onto Hanjiang cherry in 2008,and the new growth was observed to be an excellent line.The clone was established in 2009 and tentatively named as Baliwang.In regional experiment,Baliwang showed the characteristics of large fruit size,bright red fruit color,sweet flavor and long natural fresh-keeping period.It has good commercial properties,high quality,strong resistance to stress and high and stable yield,with great promotion value.

Flavonoid content and radical scavenging activity in fruits of Chinese dwarf cherry(Cerasus humilis) genotypes

The Chinese dwarf cherry（Cerasus humilis（Bge.） Sok.） is a small shrub with edible fruits. It is native to northern and western China. This species was included as a medicinal plant in the ‘‘Chinese Pharmacopeia’’ and has emerged as an economically important crop for fresh fruit consumption, processing into juice and wine and nutraceutical products as well. To gain a better understanding of flavonoid biosynthesis and help develop value added products and better cultivars with greater health benefits, we analyzed total flavonoid content（TFC）, composition, and radical scavenging activities in fruit extracts of 16 Chinese dwarf cherry genotypes. Fruit peel TFC ranged from 33.5 to72.8 mg/g REáFW（RE： rutin equivalent, FW： fresh weight）while fruit flesh TFC ranged from 4.3 to 16.9 mg/g REáFW.An HPLC analysis revealed that fruit extracts contained 14 flavonoids with considerable variation in their profiles across genotypes. The most abundant flavonoids in most genotypes were proanthocyanidin B1（PA-B1）, proanthocyanidin B2（PA-B2）, phloretin 20-O-glucoside（PG）, and phloretin 20,40-O-diglucoside（PDG）. Principal component analysis showed that PG, PA-B1, and PA-B2 had large,positive factor loading values in the first principal component for each genotype. Increased scavenging activity of2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl（DPPH） radicals was apparent in genotypes ‘Nongda 4’, ‘Nongda 3’, ‘Nongda 6’,‘Wenfenli’, and ’10-32’, suggesting promising applications in the production of nutraceutical products. In summary, our results will aid in breeding, fruit processing, and developing medicinal uses of the Chinese dwarf cherry.