A collaboration between the Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics
(CRAG) and the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA) in
Spain and the Institute of Biology of the ??cole Normale Sup??rieure in
Paris has identified the role of threegenesin melon ripening, giving
insights into the ripening mechanism of the fruit.

Marta Pujol, researcher at IRTA and CRAG, said that melon ripening is a
complex process that involves several genes that need to be identified
to understand how it works. The researchers worked on cantaloupe, a
climacteric variety of melon. Like tomatoes, cantaloupe continues to
ripen once it is harvested, and it does so by emitting ethylene.

Using CRISPR-Cas9to edit melon genes for the first time, the research
team identified three genes involved in the climacteric ripening of
melonā??CmCTR1, CmROS1 and CmNAC-NOR. The researchers caused mutations in
the three genes and found that the inhibition of the expression of the
first two genes led to accelerated maturation of the fruit. For the
third gene, it was observed that one mutation, nor-3, managed to delay
ripening by eight days, while another mutation, nor-1, completely
blocked it.

Identified three genes involved in melon ripening | CRAG | Centre for
research in agricultural Genomics (cragenomica.es)
[www.cragenomica.es]