The PH gene determines fruit acidity and contributes to the evolution of sweet melons

Shahar Cohen; Maxim Itkin; Yelena Yeselson; Galil Tzuri; Vitaly Portnoy; Rotem Harel-Baja; Shery Lev; Uzi Saâ Ar; Rachel Davidovitz-Rikanati; Nadine Baranes; Einat Bar; Dalia Wolf; Marina Petreikov; Shmuel Shen; Shifra Ben-Dor; Ilana Rogachev; Asaph Aharoni; Tslil Ast; Maya Schuldiner; Eduard Belausov; Ravit Eshed; Ron Ophir; Amir Sherman; Benedikt Frei; H. Ekkehard Neuhaus; Yimin Xu; Zhangjun Fei; Jim Giovannoni; Efraim Lewinsohn; Yaakov Tadmor; Harry S. Paris; Nurit Katzir; Yosef Burger; Arthur A. Schaffer; Uzi Sa'ar

doi:10.1038/ncomms5026

The PH gene determines fruit acidity and contributes to the evolution of sweet melons

Shahar Cohen, Maxim Itkin, Yelena Yeselson, Galil Tzuri, Vitaly Portnoy, Rotem Harel-Baja, Shery Lev, Uzi Saâ Ar, Rachel Davidovitz-Rikanati, Nadine Baranes, Einat Bar, Dalia Wolf, Marina Petreikov, Shmuel Shen, Shifra Ben-Dor, Ilana Rogachev, Asaph Aharoni, Tslil Ast, Maya Schuldiner, Eduard BelausovRavit Eshed, Ron Ophir, Amir Sherman, Benedikt Frei, H. Ekkehard Neuhaus, Yimin Xu, Zhangjun Fei, Jim Giovannoni, Efraim Lewinsohn, Yaakov Tadmor, Harry S. Paris, Nurit Katzir, Yosef Burger, Arthur A. Schaffer, Uzi Sa'ar

Weizmann Institute of Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Taste has been the subject of human selection in the evolution of agricultural crops, and acidity is one of the three major components of fleshy fruit taste, together with sugars and volatile flavour compounds. We identify a family of plant-specific genes with a major effect on fruit acidity by map-based cloning of C. melo PH gene (CmPH) from melon, Cucumis melo taking advantage of the novel natural genetic variation for both high and low fruit acidity in this species. Functional silencing of orthologous PH genes in two distantly related plant families, cucumber and tomato, produced low-acid, bland tasting fruit, showing that PH genes control fruit acidity across plant families. A four amino-acid duplication in CmPH distinguishes between primitive acidic varieties and modern dessert melons. This fortuitous mutation served as a preadaptive antecedent to the development of sweet melon cultigens in Central Asia over 1,000 years ago.

Original language	American English
Article number	4026
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5026
State	Published - 5 Jun 2014

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

General Chemistry
General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Physics and Astronomy

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Cohen, S., Itkin, M., Yeselson, Y., Tzuri, G., Portnoy, V., Harel-Baja, R., Lev, S., Saâ Ar, U., Davidovitz-Rikanati, R., Baranes, N., Bar, E., Wolf, D., Petreikov, M., Shen, S., Ben-Dor, S., Rogachev, I., Aharoni, A., Ast, T., Schuldiner, M., ... Sa'ar, U. (2014). The PH gene determines fruit acidity and contributes to the evolution of sweet melons. Nature Communications, 5, Article 4026. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5026

@article{bb82cb78d94945ff9f9bb0e68b482cb3,

title = "The PH gene determines fruit acidity and contributes to the evolution of sweet melons",

abstract = "Taste has been the subject of human selection in the evolution of agricultural crops, and acidity is one of the three major components of fleshy fruit taste, together with sugars and volatile flavour compounds. We identify a family of plant-specific genes with a major effect on fruit acidity by map-based cloning of C. melo PH gene (CmPH) from melon, Cucumis melo taking advantage of the novel natural genetic variation for both high and low fruit acidity in this species. Functional silencing of orthologous PH genes in two distantly related plant families, cucumber and tomato, produced low-acid, bland tasting fruit, showing that PH genes control fruit acidity across plant families. A four amino-acid duplication in CmPH distinguishes between primitive acidic varieties and modern dessert melons. This fortuitous mutation served as a preadaptive antecedent to the development of sweet melon cultigens in Central Asia over 1,000 years ago.",

author = "Shahar Cohen and Maxim Itkin and Yelena Yeselson and Galil Tzuri and Vitaly Portnoy and Rotem Harel-Baja and Shery Lev and \{Sa{\^a} Ar\}, Uzi and Rachel Davidovitz-Rikanati and Nadine Baranes and Einat Bar and Dalia Wolf and Marina Petreikov and Shmuel Shen and Shifra Ben-Dor and Ilana Rogachev and Asaph Aharoni and Tslil Ast and Maya Schuldiner and Eduard Belausov and Ravit Eshed and Ron Ophir and Amir Sherman and Benedikt Frei and Neuhaus, \{H. Ekkehard\} and Yimin Xu and Zhangjun Fei and Jim Giovannoni and Efraim Lewinsohn and Yaakov Tadmor and Paris, \{Harry S.\} and Nurit Katzir and Yosef Burger and Schaffer, \{Arthur A.\} and Uzi Sa'ar",

note = "Chief Scientist, Ministry of Agriculture; Israel Bio-Tov Consortium \& Magnet Program, Israel Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour; Binational Agriculture Research and Development (BARD) [IS-3877-06, IS-4223-09C]; Israel Science Foundation [386/06]; EUWe are grateful to J. Garcia-Mas for prepublication access to the melon genome sequence, to Dr Einat Sadot and Dr Mohammed Abu-Abied for assistance with the organellar markers and to Dr Amit Gal-On for assistance with cucumber transgenics. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Chief Scientist, Ministry of Agriculture; The Israel Bio-Tov Consortium \& Magnet Program, Israel Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour; Binational Agriculture Research and Development (BARD) Grants IS-3877-06 and IS-4223-09C; Israel Science Foundation Grant No. 386/06 and EU project Food-2005 MetaPhor. Melon RIL lines are available upon request from N.K. and melon near-isogenic lines are available upon request from Y.B.",

year = "2014",

month = jun,

day = "5",

doi = "10.1038/ncomms5026",

language = "American English",

volume = "5",

journal = "Nature Communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Nature Research",

}

Cohen, S, Itkin, M, Yeselson, Y, Tzuri, G, Portnoy, V, Harel-Baja, R, Lev, S, Saâ Ar, U, Davidovitz-Rikanati, R, Baranes, N, Bar, E, Wolf, D, Petreikov, M, Shen, S, Ben-Dor, S, Rogachev, I, Aharoni, A , Ast, T , Schuldiner, M, Belausov, E, Eshed, R, Ophir, R, Sherman, A, Frei, B, Neuhaus, HE, Xu, Y, Fei, Z, Giovannoni, J, Lewinsohn, E, Tadmor, Y, Paris, HS, Katzir, N, Burger, Y, Schaffer, AA & Sa'ar, U 2014, 'The PH gene determines fruit acidity and contributes to the evolution of sweet melons', Nature Communications, vol. 5, 4026. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5026

TY - JOUR

T1 - The PH gene determines fruit acidity and contributes to the evolution of sweet melons

AU - Cohen, Shahar

AU - Itkin, Maxim

AU - Yeselson, Yelena

AU - Tzuri, Galil

AU - Portnoy, Vitaly

AU - Harel-Baja, Rotem

AU - Lev, Shery

AU - Saâ Ar, Uzi

AU - Davidovitz-Rikanati, Rachel

AU - Baranes, Nadine

AU - Bar, Einat

AU - Wolf, Dalia

AU - Petreikov, Marina

AU - Shen, Shmuel

AU - Ben-Dor, Shifra

AU - Rogachev, Ilana

AU - Aharoni, Asaph

AU - Ast, Tslil

AU - Schuldiner, Maya

AU - Belausov, Eduard

AU - Eshed, Ravit

AU - Ophir, Ron

AU - Sherman, Amir

AU - Frei, Benedikt

AU - Neuhaus, H. Ekkehard

AU - Xu, Yimin

AU - Fei, Zhangjun

AU - Giovannoni, Jim

AU - Lewinsohn, Efraim

AU - Tadmor, Yaakov

AU - Paris, Harry S.

AU - Katzir, Nurit

AU - Burger, Yosef

AU - Schaffer, Arthur A.

AU - Sa'ar, Uzi

N1 - Chief Scientist, Ministry of Agriculture; Israel Bio-Tov Consortium & Magnet Program, Israel Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour; Binational Agriculture Research and Development (BARD) [IS-3877-06, IS-4223-09C]; Israel Science Foundation [386/06]; EUWe are grateful to J. Garcia-Mas for prepublication access to the melon genome sequence, to Dr Einat Sadot and Dr Mohammed Abu-Abied for assistance with the organellar markers and to Dr Amit Gal-On for assistance with cucumber transgenics. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Chief Scientist, Ministry of Agriculture; The Israel Bio-Tov Consortium & Magnet Program, Israel Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour; Binational Agriculture Research and Development (BARD) Grants IS-3877-06 and IS-4223-09C; Israel Science Foundation Grant No. 386/06 and EU project Food-2005 MetaPhor. Melon RIL lines are available upon request from N.K. and melon near-isogenic lines are available upon request from Y.B.

PY - 2014/6/5

Y1 - 2014/6/5

N2 - Taste has been the subject of human selection in the evolution of agricultural crops, and acidity is one of the three major components of fleshy fruit taste, together with sugars and volatile flavour compounds. We identify a family of plant-specific genes with a major effect on fruit acidity by map-based cloning of C. melo PH gene (CmPH) from melon, Cucumis melo taking advantage of the novel natural genetic variation for both high and low fruit acidity in this species. Functional silencing of orthologous PH genes in two distantly related plant families, cucumber and tomato, produced low-acid, bland tasting fruit, showing that PH genes control fruit acidity across plant families. A four amino-acid duplication in CmPH distinguishes between primitive acidic varieties and modern dessert melons. This fortuitous mutation served as a preadaptive antecedent to the development of sweet melon cultigens in Central Asia over 1,000 years ago.

AB - Taste has been the subject of human selection in the evolution of agricultural crops, and acidity is one of the three major components of fleshy fruit taste, together with sugars and volatile flavour compounds. We identify a family of plant-specific genes with a major effect on fruit acidity by map-based cloning of C. melo PH gene (CmPH) from melon, Cucumis melo taking advantage of the novel natural genetic variation for both high and low fruit acidity in this species. Functional silencing of orthologous PH genes in two distantly related plant families, cucumber and tomato, produced low-acid, bland tasting fruit, showing that PH genes control fruit acidity across plant families. A four amino-acid duplication in CmPH distinguishes between primitive acidic varieties and modern dessert melons. This fortuitous mutation served as a preadaptive antecedent to the development of sweet melon cultigens in Central Asia over 1,000 years ago.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84902185697&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/ncomms5026

DO - 10.1038/ncomms5026

M3 - Article

C2 - 24898284

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 5

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

M1 - 4026

ER -

The PH gene determines fruit acidity and contributes to the evolution of sweet melons

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