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Effects of pre-harvest gibberellic acid spraying on gene transcript accumulation during peach fruit development

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Abstract

In order to understand early molecular events associated with increase in fruit size and woolliness prevention induced by pre-harvest gibberellic acid (GA3) spraying, differential transcript accumulation of genes encoding proteins putatively involved in protein folding and protection, cell wall metabolism, and endomembrane transport was studied during fruit development of ‘Chiripá’ peach. Woolliness occurrence reached 100% in untreated peach, was reduced by 15% with GA3 spraying at the end of the pit hardening stage and was significantly reduced (by 78%) in peaches treated at the beginning of the pit hardening stage despite a significantly increased fruit size. Low incidence of woolliness after cold storage and fruit size increase in early GA3 treated peach was correlated with high transcript accumulation of genes encoding proteins putatively involved in protein folding, and protection of the endoplasmic reticulum (heat shock proteins—HSP40 er) and chloroplast (HSP17.8 ch), endomembrane transport (GTPase), as well as genes involved in cell wall loosening (expansins—Exp1, Exp2, Exp3, Exp4).

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Acknowledgments

To Professor Antônio Costa Oliveira for his help with qPCR analyses and to CAPES and CNPq for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UFPel/FAEM, Department Ciência e Tecnologia Agroindustrial, C.P. 354, Pelotas, RS, 90010-900, Brazil

    Camila Pegoraro, Fábio Clasen Chaves, Joceani Dal Cero & Cesar Valmor Rombaldi

  2. Embrapa, Uva e Vinho, Bento Gonçalves, RS, 95700-000, Brazil

    César Luís Girardi

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  1. Camila Pegoraro
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  2. Fábio Clasen Chaves
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  3. Joceani Dal Cero
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  4. César Luís Girardi
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  5. Cesar Valmor Rombaldi
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Correspondence to Fábio Clasen Chaves.

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Pegoraro, C., Chaves, F.C., Dal Cero, J. et al. Effects of pre-harvest gibberellic acid spraying on gene transcript accumulation during peach fruit development. Plant Growth Regul 65, 231–237 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-011-9591-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-011-9591-0

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