title: Transcriptome analysis of the oriental melon (Cucumis meloL. var.makuwa) during fruit development.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The oriental melon (Cucumis meloL. var.makuwa) is one of the most important cultivated cucurbits grown widely in Korea, Japan, and northern China. It is cultivated because its fruit has a sweet aromatic flavor and is rich in soluble sugars, organic acids, minerals, and vitamins. In order to elucidate the genetic and molecular basis of the developmental changes that determine size, color, and sugar contents of the fruit, we performedde novotranscriptome sequencing to analyze the genes expressed during fruit development.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified a total of 47,666 of representative loci from 100,875 transcripts and functionally annotated 33,963 of the loci based on orthologs inArabidopsis thaliana. Among those loci, we identified 5,173 differentially expressed genes, which were classified into 14 clusters base on the modulation of their expression patterns. The expression patterns suggested that the differentially expressed genes were related to fruit development and maturation through diverse metabolic pathways. Analyses based on gene set enrichment and the pathways described in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes suggested that the expression of genes involved in starch and sucrose metabolism and carotenoid biosynthesis were regulated dynamically during fruit development and subsequent maturation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results provide the gene expression patterns related to different stages of fruit development and maturation in the oriental melon. The expression patterns give clues about important regulatory mechanisms, especially those involving starch, sugar, and carotenoid biosynthesis, in the development of the oriental melon fruit.
authors.affiliation: Plant Systems Engineering Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) , Daejeon , Korea.
authors.forename: Ah-Young
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: Korean Bioinformation Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) , Daejeon , Korea.
authors.forename: Yong-Min
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Korean Bioinformation Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) , Daejeon , Korea.
authors.forename: Namjin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Koo
authors.affiliation: R&D Devision, Nongwoo Bio Co., Ltd. , Yeoju , Kyonggi-do , Korea.
authors.forename: Su Min
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: R&D Devision, Nongwoo Bio Co., Ltd. , Yeoju , Kyonggi-do , Korea.
authors.forename: Seokhyeon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nahm
authors.affiliation: Plant Systems Engineering Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Daejeon, Korea; Biosystems and Bioengineering Program, University of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Suk-Yoon
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kwon
keywords: Carotenoids; Fruit development; Korean melon; Pathway analysis; Sucrose; Transcriptome