Evaluation of the expression of fructose, glucose and sucrose synthesis-related genes in developing golden melon (Cucumis melo L.)

Abstract

Golden melon (Cucumis melo L.) has been used as a dessert fruit due to its sweet flavour as well as its typical odour. The quality of golden melon is mostly determined by the three main sugar contents, including fructose, glucose and sucrose. Herein, we investigated the contents of fructose, glucose and sucrose in developing melon fruit, as well as the expression of AIN2, SUS1, SUS2, UGE3, SPS2, SPP1, related to the accumulation of sugar contents. The results show
that the growth of the plant and its fruit is divided into three stages: slow growth, rapid growth, and mature stage. At the mature stage (35 days), the pH, Brix, fructose, glucose and sucrose content of mesocarp were 5.13, 4.44, 25.20 mg/10g FW (fresh weight), 62.00 mg/10 g FW and 39.27 mg/10 g FW, respectively. On the epicarp, the expression of AIN2 reached the highest peak on day 35, SUS1, SUS2, UGE3, SPS1 on day 21, SPS2 on day 28. In summary, we successfully evaluated the expression of sucrose synthesis-related genes in golden melon.