Abstract
The evaluation of environmental and genotypic effects on fruit physical and chemical characteristics enables assessment of the feasibility of selecting diploid and/or triploid cultivars for either specific or more diverse locations. Isolation and characterization of genes encoding enzymes in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway provides fundamental genetic information which can facilitate breeding of watermelon cultivars having desirable flesh colors and enhanced beneficial carotenoids. For the environmental studies, the effects of deficit irrigation on lycopene content, total soluble solids, firmness, and yield of diploid and triploid watermelon were evaluated in different locations and growing seasons. Irrigation regimes were 1.0 evapotranspiration (ET), 0.75 ET, and 0.5 ET. To investigate if there is a consistent response in cultivars across diverse locations, studies were conducted in three distinct Texas regions. Deficit irrigation reduced total marketable yield, and increased the yield of small fruits. Location and irrigation regimes had major influences on yield. Soluble solids content increased with deficit irrigation at 0.5 ET in triploids, but not in diploids. Flesh firmness also increased in triploids compared to diploids. Lycopene content increased with maturity at all irrigation regimes and cultivars. This work confirms that deficit irrigation directly reduces yield, but does not reduce lycopene and fruit quality of the triploids used in this study. From the genetic studies, a total of eight genes encoding enzymes in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway were isolated and characterized. Two members of the phytoene synthase (PSY) gene family were identified; PSY-A was expressed in all type of tissues, but PSY-B transcript was detected only in ovary, leaf, and root tissues. Gene expression of carotenoid isomerase (CRTISO) was not detected in salmon yellow. A color inheritance study of watermelon flesh indicated that a single gene might determine color difference between canary yellow and red without an inhibitory effect. A cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) marker developed from the SNP marker tagging two different lycopene β-cyclase (LCYB) alleles cosegregated perfectly with color phenotypes. It was concluded that color determination may be due to a reduced activity of LCYB enzyme in red, whereby a phenylalanine is conserved among canary yellow and valine is conserved among red watermelon.
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Claims 16
Claim · model-written summary
Deficit irrigation reduced total marketable yield.
- Taxon
- watermelon
Citrullus lanatust0 - Treatment
- Deficit irrigatione0
- Outcome
- total marketable yielde0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Deficit irrigation reduced total marketable yield”
t0“Environmental and genetic strategies to improve carotenoids and quality in watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
Deficit irrigation increased the yield of small fruits.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Treatment
- Environmental and genetic strategiest0
- Outcome
- yield of small fruitse0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“increased the yield of small fruits”
t0“Environmental and genetic strategies to improve carotenoids and quality in watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
Location and irrigation regimes had major influences on yield.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Treatment
- irrigation regimese0
- Outcome
- yielde0
- Setting
- Locatione0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Location and irrigation regimes had major influences on yield”
t0“Environmental and genetic strategies to improve carotenoids and quality in watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
Soluble solids increased at 0.5 ET in triploids.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Material
- triploidse0
- Treatment
- deficit irrigation at 0.5 ETe0
- Outcome
- Soluble solids contente0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Soluble solids content increased with deficit irrigation at 0.5 ET in triploids, but not in diploids”
t0“Environmental and genetic strategies to improve carotenoids and quality in watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
Soluble solids did not increase at 0.5 ET in diploids.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Material
- diploidse0
- Treatment
- deficit irrigation at 0.5 ETe0
- Outcome
- Soluble solids contente0
- Direction
- note0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Soluble solids content increased with deficit irrigation at 0.5 ET in triploids, but not in diploids”
t0“Environmental and genetic strategies to improve carotenoids and quality in watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
Triploids had firmer flesh than diploids.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Material
- triploidse0
- Outcome
- Flesh firmnesse0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Comparator
- diploidse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Flesh firmness also increased in triploids compared to diploids”
t0“Environmental and genetic strategies to improve carotenoids and quality in watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
Lycopene content increased with maturity across irrigation regimes and cultivars.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Organ / stage
- maturitye0
- Outcome
- Lycopene contente0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Qualifier
- at all irrigation regimes and cultivarse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Lycopene content increased with maturity at all irrigation regimes and cultivars”
t0“Environmental and genetic strategies to improve carotenoids and quality in watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
Deficit irrigation did not reduce lycopene or fruit quality in the studied triploids.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Material
- triploidse0
- Treatment
- deficit irrigatione0
- Outcome
- lycopene and fruit qualitye0
- Direction
- does not reducee0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“deficit irrigation directly reduces yield, but does not reduce lycopene and fruit quality of the triploids used in this study”
t0“Environmental and genetic strategies to improve carotenoids and quality in watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
Eight carotenoid biosynthetic enzyme genes were isolated and characterized.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Outcome
- genes encoding enzymes in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathwaye0
- Value
- eight genese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“a total of eight genes encoding enzymes in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway were isolated and characterized”
t0“Environmental and genetic strategies to improve carotenoids and quality in watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
Two phytoene synthase gene family members were identified.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Gene
- phytoene synthase (PSY)e0
- Outcome
- members of the phytoene synthase (PSY) gene familye0
- Value
- Two memberse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Two members of the phytoene synthase (PSY) gene family were identified”
t0“Environmental and genetic strategies to improve carotenoids and quality in watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
PSY-A was expressed in all tissue types.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Organ / stage
- all type of tissuese0
- Gene
- PSY-Ae0
- Outcome
- expressede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“PSY-A was expressed in all type of tissues”
t0“Environmental and genetic strategies to improve carotenoids and quality in watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
PSY-B transcript was detected only in ovary, leaf and root.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Organ / stage
- ovary, leaf, and root tissuese0
- Gene
- PSY-Be0
- Outcome
- transcript was detectede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“PSY-B transcript was detected only in ovary, leaf, and root tissues”
t0“Environmental and genetic strategies to improve carotenoids and quality in watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
CRTISO expression was undetected in salmon yellow watermelon.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Material
- salmon yellowe0
- Gene
- carotenoid isomerase (CRTISO)e0
- Outcome
- Gene expressione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Gene expression of carotenoid isomerase (CRTISO) was not detected in salmon yellow”
t0“Environmental and genetic strategies to improve carotenoids and quality in watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
A single gene may determine canary yellow versus red flesh color.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Gene
- a single genee0
- Outcome
- color difference between canary yellow and rede0
- Qualifier
- without an inhibitory effecte0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“a single gene might determine color difference between canary yellow and red without an inhibitory effect”
t0“Environmental and genetic strategies to improve carotenoids and quality in watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
The LCYB CAPS marker cosegregated perfectly with color phenotypes.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Gene
- lycopene β-cyclase (LCYB)e0
- Outcome
- color phenotypese0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“A cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) marker developed from the SNP marker tagging two different lycopene β-cyclase (LCYB) alleles cosegregated perfectly with color phenotypes”
t0“Environmental and genetic strategies to improve carotenoids and quality in watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
Reduced LCYB activity may underlie red flesh color, with different conserved amino acids in yellow and red watermelon.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatuse0
- Gene
- LCYB enzymee0
- Outcome
- color determinatione0
- Qualifier
- reduced activity of LCYB enzyme in rede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“color determination may be due to a reduced activity of LCYB enzyme in red, whereby a phenylalanine is conserved among canary yellow and valine is conserved among red watermelon”
t0“Environmental and genetic strategies to improve carotenoids and quality in watermelon”
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See all 9 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.