Pitaya has both edible and medicinal value, the major fruit in tropical and subtropical regions of China. But it is susceptible to diseases during storage. Pitaya soft rot disease is a common major disease in storage. To clarify the pathogen of pitaya soft rot, the antagonist activity and inhibition effect of antagonistic actinomycetes against pathogen, pitaya with soft rot characteristics were used to isolate pathogens by tissue separation, purification and identification. The pathogenicity of pathogen was determined by inoculated without injuries and fruit acupuncture inoculation. 26 Streptomyces spp. as the antagonist strains were tested. The inhibitory effects of cell-free filtrate on mycelial growth of the pathogen were studied by agar block method and growth rate methods. Control effect of LWL1827 cell-free filtrate spraying of different concentration and PPO, POD and PAL activity of concentration 1∶10 were carried out. ZYW18 was the pathogenic fungus according to the pathogenicity test, which was identified as Fusarium verticillioides based on morphological characteristics and molecular identification. LWL1827 could significantly inhibit the mycelia growth of ZYW18, the radius of inhibition zone was (18.32±2.13)mm, and the colony extension was inhibited significantly, the inhibitary rates of sterile fermentation filtrates with different concentrations of 1∶5、1∶10、1∶50 was 91.23%±3.11%, 87.21%±3.22%, 80.22%±2.03%, respectively. LWL1827 cell-free filtrate (1∶10) significantly improved the activity of PPO, POD and PAL, even 2-3 times higher than that of the control. Meanwhile, LWL1827 could reduce disease index and improve its control effect. Conclusively, the pathogen that causes pitaya is identified as F. verticillioides. This is the first report of pitaya caused by F. verticillioides. The Streptomyces sp. LWL1827 has significant antagonistic effect, and the antagonistic strain LWL1827 has potential value in biological control against pitaya soft sot.

In order to clearify the potential of entomopathogenic nemotodes (EPNs) on the control of Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, the pathogenucity of Heterorhabditis bacteriophora H06 against all stages of R. ferrugineus and the behavior of the invading red palm weevil larvae was studied using laboratory bioassay methods. The results showed that the mortality of eggs was the highest in all stages after R. ferrugineus was infected by EPNs, and LC₅₀ was 104.85 IJs/mL, followed by 1-2 instar larvae, 3-4 instar larvae and 5-6 instar larvae, LC₅₀ was 165.34 IJs/mL, 215.31 IJs/mL and 292.26 IJs/mL respectively; No significant differences were observed in the sensitivity between 7-10 instar larvae and pupae to EPNs. Among the effects of inoculation site on the mortality of different instar larvae, the mortality of the 3rd instar larvae was the highest when inoculated with spiracle and anus, which was 91.11% and 78.89% respectively, while the lethal rate of inoculation with mouthparts was the highest in the treatment of the 6th and 8th instar larvae. No significant difference presented in the mortality of different instar R. ferrugineus larvae when treated with vent inoculation. The R. ferrugineus body color changed to red or reddish brown, no spontaneous response when touching, and the body wall of R. ferrugineus shrinked after treated by EPNs. When the nematode approached the spiracle of R. ferrugineus larval, it stayed around the spiracle for a moment, and finally entered the insect body, and the number of EPNs successfully invaded was about 33.33%.

Five different light filter bags including red, green, blue, white and double kraft bag were selected to study the effects of different color filter bags on the sunburn incidence and fruit quality of pomegranate. The sunburn index of pomegranate fruit decreased from 62.42% to 100%, comparing to non-bagged fruits. Principal component analysis showed that bagging mainly affected four quality indicators of pomegranate fruit, including titratable acid, soluble solids content, soluble sugar and seed hardness. The content of soluble sugar increased by 26.72% in the red bag, the seed hardness decreased by 35.58%, and the SSC and titratable acidity did not change significantly. The content of titratable acid, SSC and soluble sugar in the green bag fruit increased by 5.80%, 7.03%, 15.40% respectively, seed hardness decreased by 56.30%. The content of titratable acid, SSC and soluble sugar in the blue bag increased by 11.59%, 9.38%, 23.55%, and the seed hardness decreased by 16.26%. Titratable acid, SSC of fruits and seed hardness in the white bag decreased by 17.39%, 2.89% and 35.63%, respectively. The titratable acid and soluble solids of the fruits in the kraft bag increased by 8.70% and 11.17%, respectively, and the seed hardness decreased by 38.91%. The comprehensive analysis of the sunburn incidence and the internal and external quality of the fruit found that the red bag significantly improved the appearance quality of the fruit, reduced the fruit sunburn index by 91.80%, significantly increased the soluble sugar content, and reduced the seed hardness. Therefore, the red bag is an ideal fruit bag for Hongyushizi.

The current preservation methods of Phallus rubrovolvatus not only result in short shelf life and rapid quality deterioration but also greatly limit its market sales. Consequently, exploring the characteristics of quality deterioration during the preservation of P. rubrovolvatus and corresponding key control points is essential to slow down the deterioration and prolong the shelf life. In this study, the samples were processed with no treatment (control), silica gel desiccant treatment, ozone and silica gel desiccant treatment, silica gel desiccant and preservative paper treatment, and silica gel desiccant, active paper, and preservative paper treatment, respectively. After treatment, the samples were preserved at low temperature (4 ℃) and normal temperature (25 ℃), respectively, and were collected regularly for sensory evaluation, enzyme activity determination, and texture determination. The quality deterioration characteristics and key control points of P. rubrovolvatus during preservation were revealed based on the changes in sensory indexes decay rate, weight loss ratio, color and odor, the changes in enzyme activity of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and chitinase, etc., and the changes in texture indexes such as hardness, elasticity, and chewability. The results showed that silica gel desiccant treatment at normal temperature, ozone and silica gel desiccant treatment at low temperature had a significant effect on maintaining the weight of P. rubrovolvatus, with the 4.82% and 7.36% at low temperature, respectively, followed by ozone and silica gel desiccant treatment at normal temperature, silica gel desiccant treatment at low temperature with a weight loss ratio of 7.66% and 7.42%, respectively. With ozone and silica gel desiccant treatment, the decay rate was 13% at normal temperature at 2 d and 0% at low temperature at 22 d. The sensory evaluation under ozone and silica gel desiccant treatment demonstrated that the yellowing degree and odor deterioration score were the lowest, and the changes in yellowing degree and odor intensity were slow. According to the texture determination, ozone and silica gel desiccant treatment presented the highest comprehensive score and had the best inhibitory effect on deterioration-related enzymes, which effectively prolonged the shelf life of P. rubrovolvatus from 5 d to 20 d. Based on the results, ozone treatment at the initial stage can effectively reduce the species and quantity of miscellaneous bacteria on the surface of fruiting bodies of P. rubrovolvatus, and slow down the proliferation rate of miscellaneous bacteria during subsequent preservation, thus inhibiting the decay and yellowing of the fruiting bodies of P. rubrovolvatus. In addition, silica gel desiccant treatment can decrease the surface humidity, slow down the damage of chitinase to the cell wall, and inhibit the reproduction of miscellaneous bacteria on the surface, thereby delaying the softening, collapse, and yellowing of P. rubrovolvatus. The best treatment for the preservation of P. rubrovolvatus is ozone and silica gel desiccant treatment at low temperature.

Beiyuan Tribute tea (BTT), originated from Jian'ou city in Fujian province, is a bright pearl in the history of tea development in China. In this paper, the fresh leaves of Shuixian tea varietiy in Jian'ou were used as the raw materials, cake tea (Dragon and Phoenix cake tea) and loose tea (Nanlu Shuixian tea) were produced by the traditional process of ground tea and the modern process of Oolong tea in Jian'ou of Northern Fujian, respectively. The cake tea was then taken as the material to obtain tea foam and liquid with the Diancha technique. To provide scientific data supporting for the quality and cultural mining of BTT and its Diancha, the content of the main quality components of cake tea and loose tea, as well as the difference in the composition of the tea foam and liquid of cake tea, were compared and analyzed by using a series of biochemical component determination methods and extensive targeted metabolome detection technique. The results showed that there was no significant difference in water content, water extract content and total free amino acids between cake tea and loose tea, but the total polyphenol and caffeine contents of cake tea were significantly higher than that of loose tea, and the contents of theaflavin, thearubin and theafuscin were significantly lower than that of loose tea. Moreover, 1245 common metabolites in 12 categories were detected from the tea liquid and foam of the cake tea, and no specific substances were detected. Through principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis, 26 differential metabolites in 5 categories were screened. Among them, except that the content of astilbin in tea liquid was significantly higher than that in tea foam, 25 differential metabolites in tea foam were significantly higher than that in tea liquid, mainly including lysophosphatidylcholine, lysophosphatidylethanolamine, free fatty acids and other lipid substances. The differential metabolites were mostly reticular, lighter than water, and easy to float on the upper layer of tea liquid, and they were the good foam stabilizers that mainly acting as emulsions and surfactants. Therefore, tea foam can be formed and stably suspended on tea liquid. The results of this study would provide a theoretical basis and scientific support for the industrial development, cultural inheritance and innovation of BTT

The pepper is a widely cultivated vegetable and its domestication and dissemination history have received significant attention from the academic community. This article summarizes the pathways of pepper's dissemination worldwide. The wild pepper species originated in the northwestern part of the Andes Mountains in South America and expanded, spread, and evolved in South and Central America. The Capsicum cultivars migrated outward from Mexico and underwent parallel domestication in multiple regions. After Christopher Columbus brought peppers back to Spain from South America, they began to spread to other European countries and eventually spread throughout Central Europe by the mid-16th century. Simultaneously, a large number of pepper varieties introduced into Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe via the "Eurasian Trade Route" and the "Galleon Trade Route". The prevalent slave trade in the 17th century further facilitated the comprehensive dissemination of peppers in Africa and North America. With the development of global trade, the Capsicum cultivars from different regions were exchanged more extensively. Among them, C. annuum spread to Asia, Africa, North America, Oceania, and Eastern Europe, becoming the most widely cultivated peppers worldwide. C. frutescens and C. chinense were introduced to Eastern Europe, tropical regions of Africa, and Asia, while C. baccatum and C. pubescens are mainly grown in Central and South America, Indonesia, and South Africa. Genomic research results have provided important genetic evidence for the global dissemination history of pepper, while also offering a new perspective for the study of pepper evolution.

Self-incompatibility is a genetic mechanism to prevent self-fertilization and the consequent inbreeding and fitness decay in plant populations. In the gametophyte self-incompatibility mechanism represented by Solanaceae, Rosaceae and Plantaginaceae, the self/non-self recognition between pollen and pistil is determined by the polymorphic S locus. SLF (S-locus F-box)/SFB (S-haplotype-specific F-box) gene is the pollen S determinant of gametophyte self-incompatibility. In this study, 21 SLF/SFB family genes were screened and identified based on the genome-wide of the pineapple. Each AcSLF gene had an F-box conserved domain at the N-terminal. There were great differences in amino acid length, theoretical isoelectric point and molecular weight. The size range of the encoded amino acid sequence was 242-612 aa, and the molecular weight was 27.778-69.070 kDa. The isoelectric point ranged from 5.70 to 9.57. 18 AcSLF proteins were alkaline and most proteins were unstability, only AcSLF19, AcSLF21 were stability. It was predicted that 18 AcSLF proteins were located in the nucleus, one AcSLF protein in chloroplast, two AcSLF protein in both chloroplast and nucleus, and more than 60% of the secondary structure of the protein was composed of alpha helix and random coil. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the pineapple SLF/SFB family genes, which were unevenly distributed on 14 chromosomes, and the chromosome location of AcSLF21 was undetermined. Furthermore, AcSLF4, AcSLF5, AcSLF6, AcSLF8, AcSLF14 and AcSLF15 were linked with RNase T2 family genes, this was one of the main characteristics of pollen SLF gene. AcSLF genes contained different numbers of introns, most of which contained 1~2 introns, and AcSLF3 contained 4 introns. Based on the above analysis results, it showed that AcSLF proteins had different characteristics. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the evolutionary relationship of AcSLFs in pineapple was far away from the SLF/SFB in Rosaceae, Plantaginaceae and Solanaceae, the degree of clustering was low on the branches of evolutionary tree. The expression levels of the AcSLF genes in pistil, stamen, leaf, sarcocarp, stem and root were analyzed by qRT-PCR. The results showed that AcSLFs had obvious expression differences in different tissues of pineapple. AcSLF1, AcSLF2, AcSLF4, AcSLF9, AcSLF10, AcSLF11, AcSLF15, AcSLF19, AcSLF20 and AcSLF21 genes were highly expressed in pineapple stamens. The expression of AcSLF3 and AcSLF7 in sarcocarp was higher than that of other tissue, and AcSLF5, AcSLF12, AcSLF18 were higher expression in root than other tissues. In general, most pineapple AcSLF genes are mainly expressed in pineapple stamens or leaves. It was found that the expression of AcSLF1, AcSLF2, AcSLF15 genes in pollinated pistil were significantly up-regulated than that in non-pollinated pistil. Especially at 6 h after cross-pollination, the expression level was significantly higher than that of non-pollinated pistils. With the extension of the pollen tube in the pistil, the expression level decreased, but it still had a high expression at 24 h after pollination. And the expression trend of AcSLF1, AcSLF2 and AcSLF15 in cross-pollination was consistent with the growth of pollen tube in the pistil. Therefore, it is speculated that AcSLF1, AcSLF2 and AcSLF15 play an important role in pineapple self-incompatibility. This is the first time to analyze the expression pattern of SLF/SFB family genes in pineapple. This study would provide a reference for the cloning of pineapple SLF/SFB family genes, and basis for the study of pineapple self-incompatibility mechanism.

In order to screen out the key metabolites that control the fragrance of areca nut, enhance the fragrance of areca nut, attract more pollinators, and then increase the yield of areca nut. In this study, Headspace Solid Phase Microextraction Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Combined Analysis Technology was used for non-targeted metabolomic detection of areca nut flowers in different periods. 236 metabolites were detected in the study. 75 differential metabolites were screened by combining VIP value and differential fold. Main metabolites were terpenes, ketones, alcohols. Among them, the volatile compounds of female flowers of Areca accumulated a lot from the female flower unopened stage to the initial blooming stage, and decreased slightly in the full bloom stage, so the initial blooming stage of female flowers of Areca may be the key period for the formation of female flower fragrance. The volatile compounds in the male flowers of Areca accumulated a lot from the initial blooming stage to the blooming stage, so the blooming stage of male flowers may be the key period for the formation of flower fragrance of male flowers of Areca. KEGG database was used to analyze the metabolic pathways of differential metabolites. The fatty acid biosynthesis was the metabolic pathway that was significantly enriched in the female flowers of areca nut and related to flower aroma synthesis, and the substance enriched in this pathway was capric acid. Capric acid is a fatty acid, which is mostly used in plant physiology and signal transmission and other functions. The capric acid content in the female flowers of betel nut increased from the unopened stage to the early flowering stage, and the release of floral fragrance also increased correspondingly. This may be because areca nut starts pollination at the beginning of female flower, and more chemical signals are needed to be transmitted to attract pollinators. So capric acid may be a chemical signal released by betel nut female flowers for pollination. Metabolic pathways significantly enriched in male areca nut flowers and related to flower aroma synthesis are diterpenoid biosynthesis and fatty acid degradation. Palmitaldehyde and (4aR,6aS,9R,11aR,11bR)-4,4,11b-trimethyl-8-methylene tetrahydro-6a and 9-methylcycloheptyl [a] naphthalene were enriched in two pathways. (4aR, 6aS,9R,11aR,11bR)-4,4,11b-trimethyl-8-methylenetetrahydro-6a,9-methylcyclohept[a]naphthalene is a terpenoid. Its enantiomer, ent-kaurene, is synthesized by ring-opening of trans-geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate with the use of kaurine synthase and is a precursor ofgibberellin. The content of this substance was down-regulated from the early flowering period to the full bloom period of male flowers, which may be due to the decrease of the required gibberellin content in male flowers during the full bloom period. Palmitaldehyde is an aldehyde substance, which is a metabolite released by the biodegradation of fatty acids. The release of the fragrance of areca nut male flowers increased from the early blooming stage to the blooming stage, and the content of palmitaldehyde also increased. There is a positive correlation between these two situations. In conclusion, the above three metabolites may be the key metabolites that affect the fragrance of areca nut.

Cellulose is one of the main components of plant roots, and plays a key role in lodging resistance. CesA7 is for cellulose synthesis, but its function is unknown in sugarcane. Rice OsCesA7 gene was used as the reference sequence to conduct homology analysis and functional prediction in the genomes of Sacchrum spontaneum, S. hybrid and S. officinarum. Phylogenetic analysis showed that CesA7 in S. hybrid was closer to that in S. officinarum, and grasses were clustered together, but herbs and woody plants could not be separated clearly. The promoter region of the sugarcane CesA7 genes had abundant light-responsive elements and methyl jasmonate element, indicating that the gene may be involved in the photomorphogenesis and the stress resistance response in sugarcane. Interaction prediction of the protein and analysis of the promoter indicated that CesA7 had interaction with MYB transcription factor, suggesting that CesA7 played a role in crop growth and development and stress response. In addition, functional predictions of CesA proteins in rice and sorghum showed involvement in regulating cellulose synthesis and lignin degradation processes. Transcriptomic analysis of roots and leaves of seven representative species of sugarcane at seedling stage revealed that CesA7 expression level in roots was much higher than that in leaves, suggesting that CesA7 might regulate sugarcane root development. The SNP variation of the gene was detected in the germplasm of sugarcane, and the nucleotide diversity was the highest in S. spontaneum. The nucleotide diversity in the exon region was significantly higher than that in the intron region, and the highest diversity was found in the region of exon 4 (about 2000 bp) of the gene. It is speculated that the functional differentiation of different alleles are caused by the balancing selection of this locus. After multiple sequence alignment combined with resequencing data analysis, two potential molecular markers were identified, which could distinguish S. spontaneum and S. officinarum samples. The study would provide theoretical guidance for subsequent research and use of CesA7 gene to improve sugarcane variety.

Noni fruit is a characteristic fruit of Hainan with a variety of medicinal effects, but there are few studies on its plant proteins. In the present study, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE gel) technology based on the BPP+phenol extraction method was used to extract and separate the proteins of noni fruits at different ripening stages including bud stage, half ripe stage, and mature stage by optimizing the experimental conditions to obtain the fingerprint of plant proteins. The gel images were analyzed by Image Master 5.0 software and some proteins with high expression were screened out. The enzymatic hydrolysates of the proteins were further identified by using MALDI-TOF-MS technology. The functional analysis of the highly expressed proteins of three kinds of noni fruits were preliminarily carried out by bioinformatics methods. The results indicated that there were respectively forty four, forty nine, and forty highly expressed proteins at three maturites noni fruits. Among the proteins, there were respectively thirty three, twenty two and thirty nine proteins by mass spectrum identification, which subordinated to various types of protein with different plant functions. Moreover, significant difference existed in the highly expressed proteins of different maturity stages, which involved in a variety of proteins such as chloroplastic ligase, cysteine proteinase, protein kinase, ubiquitin ligase, and auxin response factors. It could provided a scientific and reasonable theoretical guidance for the further development and utilization of the plant protein of noni fruits.