TITLE:
Studies on carotenoids in watermelon flesh
AUTHORS:
Wen’en Zhao, Pin Lv, Huihui Gu
KEYWORDS:
Watermelon; Carotenoid; Determination; Genes and Their Expression
JOURNAL NAME:
Agricultural Sciences,
Vol.4 No.7A,
July
18,
2013
ABSTRACT:
Carotenoids are
responsible for the different flesh colors in watermelon fruit, such as white,
salmon yellow, orange, pale yellow, canary yellow, crimson red, and scarlet
red. In red-fleshed watermelons lycopene
constitutes the major pigment and b-carotene
the secondary. The predominant carotenoid in yellow-fleshed watermelon is
neoxanthin. Lycopene content in watermelon is related to genotype and ploidy
level, harvest maturity, and growth and development conditions. Watermelon
flesh colors are controlled by several gene loci. There are two or three
alleles identified at each gene locus. Up to now several full-length cDNAs or
gene fragments encoding enzymes in the carotenoid metabolic pathway have been
isolated and characterized from mature watermelon fruits. Differential
expression of carotenogenic genes was examined in flesh, ovary, leaf, and
root tissues across different colored fleshes (white, canary yellow, salmon
yellow, orange, and red). Carotenogenic gene expression was also analyzed at
three fruit developmental stages (10, 20, and 30 days postanthesis) in five flesh colors of watermelon cultivars
(red, pink, orange, yellow, and white).