Chinese cherry (Prunus pseudocerasus) holds considerable importance as one of the primary stone fruit crops in China. However, artificially improving its traits and genetic analysis are challenging due to lack of high-quality genomic resources, which mainly result from difficulties associated with resolving its tetraploid and highly heterozygous genome. Herein, we assembled a chromosome-level, haplotype-resolved genome of the cultivar ‘Zhuji Duanbing’, comprising 993.69 Mb assembled into 32 pseudochromosomes using PacBio HiFi, Oxford Nanopore, and Hi-C. Intra-haplotype comparative analyses revealed extensive intra-genomic sequence and expression consistency. Phylogenetic and comparative genomic analyses demonstrated that P. pseudocerasus was a stable autotetraploid species, closely related to wild P. pusilliflora, with the two diverging ~18.34 million years ago. Similar to other Prunus species, P. pseudocerasus underwent a common whole-genome duplication event that occurred ~139.96 million years ago. Because of its low fruit firmness, P. pseudocerasus is unsuitable for long-distance transportation, thereby restricting its rapid development throughout China. At the ripe fruit stage, P. pseudocerasus cv. ‘Zhuji Duanbing’ was significantly less firm than P. avium cv. ‘Heizhenzhu’. The difference in firmness is attributed to the degree of alteration in pectin, cellulose, and hemicellulose contents. In addition, comparative transcriptomic analyses identified GalAK-like and Stv1, two genes involved in pectin biosynthesis, which potentially caused the difference in firmness between ‘Zhuji Duanbing’ and ‘Heizhenzhu’. Transient transformations of PpsGalAK-like and PpsStv1 increase protopectin content and thereby enhance fruit firmness. Our study lays a solid foundation for functional genomic studies and the enhancement of important horticultural traits in Chinese cherries.

In order to find an efficient, economical and feasible method for soft ripening storage of kiwifruit, two softening methods (on-vine, cold) were utilized for the ‘Ganlv-2’ kiwifruit (Actinidia. eriantha) cultivar. A comprehensive evaluation was conducted on the quality changes in ‘Ganlv-2’ under different methods after fruit ripening by principal component analysis and mathematical modeling. Compared to kiwifruit under cold softening, kiwifruit treated with on-vine soft ripening had slightly greater sugar-acid ratios and flesh firmness and higher contents of dry matter, soluble solids, and soluble sugar. The titratable acid content was slightly lower in the on-vine group than in the cold group. The sensory evaluation results manifested little difference in fruit flavor between the two groups. However, at the end of the trial, the overripe taste of the on-vine group was lighter and the taste was sweeter than those of the cold group. More aromatic substances were emitted from the kiwifruit in the on-vine group. According to the mathematic model, there was no significant difference in fruit quality and flavor between the on-vine and traditional cold groups. The fruit in the on-vine group had a stronger flavor and lighter overripe flavor when they reached the edible state. This paper provided a novel storage method of A. eriantha, it can reduce the cost of traditional cold storage and reduce the pressure on centralized harvesting, and the feasibility of this method was verified from the fruit quality.