The impact of growing area on the expression of fruit traits re-lated to sensory perception in two tomato cultivars
The environmental conditions greatly influence tomato fruit quality, by affecting the expression of genes, the abundance of metabolites and the perception of sensorial attributes.In this study, a fruit transcriptome investigation, together with a sensory test and a metabolomic analysis were per-formed to evaluate the impact of the environment on two popular tomato cultivars grown in two Italian regions. The transcriptional profile of each cultivar, cultivated in two different areas high-lighted differential expression in genes involved in pathways related to cell wall components such as pectin, lignin and hemicellulose, sugars as well as in amino acids, phenylpropanoids, and pigment synthesis. The cultivation area mainly affects sensory attributes related to texture and flavor and the metabolic pattern of cell wall precursors, sugars, glutamate, aspartate and carotenoids. In the two genotypes cultivated in the same environment, some attributes and fruit-related quality processes are similarly affected, while others are differently influenced based on tomato specific genetic makeup. Combination of transcriptomic, sensory and metabolomic data obtained from the two tomato genotypes revealed that the environment has a profound effect on specific sensory traits, providing information on factors that shape the specific characteristics and genetic targets for im-proving tomato fruit characteristics. Overall design: To evaluate the effect if the environment on tomato fruit quality, two tomato genotypes, Dardo and Pixel, (Solanum lycopersicum) were grown in two Italian locations, Battipaglia and Fondi. RNA-seq performed on fruits was used to identify DEGs between the two environments related to fruit quality. A sensory evaluation was performed to identify sensory attributes affected by the environment. A metabolic analysis including key metabolites related to fruit quality was performed to evaluate the difference in aboundance between the two environments in both genotypes.