Differentily expressed genes of homozygotes Cmnor; CmNOR/Cmnor heterozygotes and WT plants

Although knockout NON-RIPENING (CmNOR) prolongs storage duration at the expense of quality loss, the potential of its direct agricultural application to reconcile this conflict remains uninvestigated. Through crossing homozygotes Cmnor and wild-type plants, we created CmNOR/Cmnor heterozygotes displaying 6-day delayed ripening and 3-5 day extended shelf life at 20°C storage while preserving fruit quality.

Ethylene treatment accelerated softening but failed to restore quality parameters of heterozygotes and homozygotes. Transcriptomic analysis revealed homozygotes showed >10-fold expression variations versus WT in quality-associated genes (e.g., carotenoid biosynthesis), which diminished to ~2-fold differences in heterozygotes. Storage-phase differential genes clustered in water regulation and cell wall modification pathways, with heterozygous-WT expression disparities gradually decreasing over time.