Background: Chrysanthemum is one of the most important ornamental crops in the world and drought stress seriously limits its production and distribution. In order to generate a functional genomics resource and obtain a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms regarding chrysanthemum responses to dehydration stress, we performed large-scale transcriptome sequencing of chrysanthemum plants under dehydration stress using the Illumina sequencing technology. Results: Two cDNA libraries constructed from mRNAs of control and dehydration-treated seedlings were sequenced by Illumina technology. A total of more than 100 million reads were generated and de novo assembled into 98,180 unique transcripts which were further extensively annotated by comparing their sequencing to different protein databases. Biochemical pathways were predicted from these transcript sequences. Furthermore, we performed gene expression profiling analysis upon dehydration treatment in chrysanthemum and identified 8,558 dehydration-responsive unique transcripts, including 307 transcription factors and 229 protein kinases and many well-known stress responsive genes. Gene ontology (GO) term enrichment and biochemical pathway analyses showed that dehydration stress caused changes in hormone response, secondary and amino acid metabolism, and light and photoperiod response. These findings suggest that drought tolerance of chrysanthemum plants may be related to the regulation of hormone biosynthesis and signaling, reduction of oxidative damage, stabilization of cell proteins and structures, and maintenance of energy and carbon supply. Conclusions: Our transcriptome sequences can provide a valuable resource for chrysanthemum breeding and research and novel insights into chrysanthemum responses to dehydration stress and offer candidate genes or markers that can be used to guide future studies attempting to breed drought tolerant chrysanthemum cultivars.

It has been indicated that photosystem I (PSI) is susceptible to chilling-light stress in tobacco leaves, but the effect of growth light intensity on chilling-induced PSI photoinhibition in tobacco is unclear. We examined the effects of chilling temperature (4°C) associated with moderate light intensity (300 μmol photons m−2 s−1) on the activities of PSI and photosystem II (PSII) in leaves from sun- and shade-grown plants of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum cv. k326). The sun leaves had a higher activity of alternative electron flow than the shade leaves. After 4 h chilling treatment, the sun leaves showed significantly a higher PSI photoinhibition than the shade leaves. At chilling temperature the sun leaves showed a greater electron flow from PSII to PSI, accompanying with a lower P700 oxidation ratio. When leaves were pre-treated with lincomycin, PSII activity decreased by 42% (sun leaves) and 47% (shade leaves) after 2 h exposure to the chilling-light stress, but PSI activity remained stable during the chilling-light treatment, because the electron flow from PSII to PSI was remarkably depressed. These results indicated that the stronger chilling-induced PSI photoinhibition in the sun leaves was resulted from a greater electron flow from PSII to PSI. Furthermore, moderate PSII photoinhibition depressed electron flow to PSI and then protected PSI activity against further photodamage in chilled tobacco leaves.

B-box containing proteins (BBXs) are a class of zinc finger transcription factor proteins that contain one or two B-box domains and play important roles in plant growth and development. The BBX gene family has been identified in the Arabidopsis and rice genomes. However, no comprehensive identification has been reported in pear. In this study, 37 genes were identified as candidate BBXs in Chinese white pear (Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd) and denominated following the uniform nomenclature in Arabidopsis. We also performed analyses of their phylogenic relationships, structures, chromosomal locations, promoter regions, Gene Ontology (GO) annotations, and expression patterns. The identified genes were classified into five groups based on phylogeny and domain constitution analysis. PbBBXs were unevenly distributed in 12 out of 17 pear chromosomes. The cis-elements in the promoters of PbBBXs were mainly related to light, stress, and hormone response. Gene expression analysis by quantitative real-time PCR showed that PbBBXs had differential expression in different plant organs and could be classified into four major groups. PbBBXs also showed differential responses to low temperature and dehydration treatments. Overall, this study provided useful information for further functional analysis of BBXs in pear.

PIN-FORMED (PIN) encodes a key auxin polar transport family that plays a crucial role in the outward transport of auxin and several growth and development processes, including dwarfing trees. We identified a dwarfing pear rootstock ‘OHF51’ (Pyrus communis), which limits the growth vigor of the ‘Xueqing’ (Pyrus bretschneideri × Pyrus pyrifolia) scion, and isolated 14 putative PbPINs from the pear Pyrus bretschneideri. The phylogenic relationships, structure, promoter regions, and expression patterns were analyzed. PbPINs were classified into two main groups based on the protein domain structure and categorized into three major groups using the neighbor-joining algorithm. Promoter analysis demonstrated that PbPINs might be closely related to plant growth and development. Through quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis, we found that the expression patterns of 14 PbPINs varied upon exposure to different organs in dwarfing and vigorous stocks, ‘OHF51’ and ‘QN101’ (Pyrus betulifolia), indicating that they might play varying roles in different tissues and participated in the regulation of growth vigor. These results provide fundamental insights into the characteristics and evolution of the PINs family, as well as the possible relationship between dwarfing ability and auxin polar transport.

Pear (Pyrus L.) is an important temperate fruit worldwide, and grafting is widely used in pear vegetative propagation. However, the mechanisms of graft healing or incompatibility remain poorly understood in Pyrus. To study the differences in graft healing in Pyrus, the homograft “Qingzhen D1/Qingzhen D1” and the heterograft “QAUP-1/Qingzhen D1” as compatibility and incompatibility combinations were compared. Anatomical differences indicated the healing process was faster in homografts than in heterografts. During the healing process, four critical stages in graft union formation were identified in the two types of grafts. The expression of the genes associated with hormone signaling (auxin and cytokinins), and lignin biosynthesis was delayed in the healing process of heterografts. In addition, the PbBglu13 gene, encoded β-glucosidase, was more highly up-regulated in heterografts than in homografts to promote healing. Meanwhile, the most of DEGs related starch and sucrose metabolism were found to be up-regulated in heterografts; those results indicated that cellulose and sugar signals were also involved in graft healing. The results of this study improved the understanding of the differences in the mechanisms of graft healing between homografts and heterografts.

Cork spot is a common physiological disorder in pear fruits, which has been found in some pear cultivars. Mineral nutrition imbalance in fruit is regarded as the principal influence factor for disorder incidence, with some ongoing confusion and controversy. In our research, we explored the cork spot characteristics in Japanese pear ‘Akizuki’ (Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai), adopted metabolome and mineral content analysis for healthy and disordered fruits, and made a correlation analysis of mineral and metabolites. Cork spots are mainly distributed on the outer flesh beneath the fruit peel. In cork spotted tissues, superoxide (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) activities, as well as malondialdehyde (MDA) content, increased. A total of 1024 known metabolites were identified from all the samples and more changes in metabolism were detected between normal and cork spotted flesh tissues. Correlation analysis displayed that Ca, especially the Mg/Ca in fruits, could be used to predict whether an orchard will develop cork spot disorder; Mg and B were associated with the appearance of symptoms, and the contents of Zn, Fe, and Mg, as well as Mg/B and Zn/B, might be strongly tied to the formation of cork spots in pears. This research provides insights into the occurrence of pear cork spot disorder and clarifies the role of minerals.