Lycopene Accumulation in Cara Cara Red-flesh Navel Orange Is Correlated with Weak Abscisic Acid Catabolism

Lycopene is the main pigment in red-flesh citrus fruits, and its formation is a research hotspot. To explore the basis of lycopene accumulation in red-flesh mutants, we profiled the terpenoid metabolites. Compared with their respective wild types, Cara Cara (Cara) [and Red-Anliu (R-An)] oranges showed increased carotenoid and limonoid aglycone contents and decreased contents of abscisic acid (ABA) catabolites, monoterpenoid volatiles, and sesquiterpenoid volatiles. Cara contained less than half of the amount of ABA glucose ester (ABAGE), the main ABA derivative in oranges. Parallel lower transcript levels of NCED and ABA glucosyltransferase in Cara were detected at the mature green stage. These results document the changes in terpenoid profiles in Cara and show that the red flesh of citrus color mutants is related to weak ABA catabolism, especially ABAGE, and decreased transcript levels of two genes encoding uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glycosyltransferases that catalyze ABAGE biosynthesis.

Automated summary

The research found that compared to wild types, red-flesh citrus mutants have increased levels of lycopene, carotenoids, and limonoid aglycones, but decreased levels of abscisic acid catabolites, monoterpenoid volatiles, and sesquiterpenoid volatiles. The red flesh is related to weak ABA catabolism, especially ABAGE, and decreased transcript levels of genes encoding enzymes for ABAGE biosynthesis.