Proteome and metabolome of Annona crassiflora Mart. fruit and their interaction during development

Abstract

Marolo (Annona crassiflora Mart.) is an exotic fruit from the Brazilian Cerrado, rich in various bioactive compounds. This unprecedented study analyzed through different techniques (spectrophotometric methods, UPLC, HS-SPME-GC–MS) the proteomic and metabolic changes in four distinct stages of development, their biochemical correlations, biological processes and how proteins are dynamized promoting such processes and biosynthetic pathways. Among the four stages, 993 proteins were identified and 45 metabolites were quantified. At the beginning of development there is a greater presence of ribosomal, transcriptional and post-translational proteins, to increase the protein synthetic machinery that must coordinate the other biological processes essential for development. The families of transcription factors GATA, MADS-Box, MYB, F-box and HD-Zip were identified, which are likely coordinators of the biological processes of marolo together with phytohormones. At the ripe stage, there is an increase in the accumulation of some cellulases to intensify the softening of the fruit, and the antioxidant system of marolo presented a mostly constant behavior, in order to control the steady states of the naturally produced reactive oxygen species. Several proteins identified are related to the detected metabolites, with emphasis on the production and regeneration of vitamin C and the carotenogenic pathway. The volatile profile of marolo was related to the action of some enzymes and the supremacy of volatile esters. Therefore, proteomics in conjunction with metabolomics allowed us to have a molecular view of how compounds and proteins are produced during marolo development and how the behavior of proteins appears to influence biological processes and pathways.