Transcriptome analysis of ripe peach (Prunus persica) fruit under low-dose UVB radiation

UVB radiation (280-320 nm) plays an important role in plant growth and development. High UVB radiation results in DNA damage, growth inhibition and cell death, but low-dose UVB radiation does not, and can affect plant metabolism. Here, we analyzed the transcriptomic changes in peach fruit subjected to low-dose UVB radiation compared with natural light conditions during the process of growth and development using RNA-seq. We identified a total of 41,145,768 and 40,163,165 clean reads from the two samples, and 1342 genes passed the Cuffdiff test and were considered differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Among the DEGs, we identified 40 genes related to ethylene signaling pathway and several genes related to carbohydrate metabolism that were responsive to low-dose UVB radiation. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to validate the expression levels of 20 of the DEGs. In conclusion, the present study identified potential genes involved in the peach fruit response to low-dose UVB radiation through a genome-wide analysis of DEGs. Further characterization of the DEGs identified in this study could advance our understanding of the mechanisms that regulate ethylene signal and carbohydrate metabolism in peach fruit under low-dose UVB radiation.