Comparative metabolomics and molecular phylogenetics of melon (Cucumis melo, cucurbitaceae) biodiversity

MOING, ANNICK; WILLIAM ALLWOOD, J.; AHARONI, ASAPH; BAKER, JOHN; BEALE, MICHAEL H.; BEN-DOR, SHIFRA; BIAIS, BENOÎT; BRIGANTE, FEDERICO; BURGER, YOSEF; DEBORDE, CATHERINE; ERBAN, ALEXANDER; FAIGENBOIM, ADI; GUR, AMIT; GOODACRE, ROYSTON; HANSEN, THOMAS H.; JACOB, DANIEL; KATZIR, NURIT; KOPKA, JOACHIM; LEWINSOHN, EFRAIM; MAUCOURT, MICKAEL; MEIR, SAGIT; MILLER, SONIA; MUMM, ROLAND; OREN, ELAD; PARIS, HARRY S.; ROGACHEV, ILANA; ROLIN, DOMINIQUE; SAAR, UZI; SCHJOERRING, JAN K.; TADMOR, YAAKOV; TZURI, GALIL; DE VOS, RIC C. H.; WARD, JANE L.; YESELSON, ELENA; HALL, ROBERT D.; SCHAFFER, ARTHUR A.

Metabolites

MDPI AG

Año: 2020 vol. 10

he broad variability of Cucumis melo (melon, Cucurbitaceae) presents a challenge to conventional classification and organization within the species. To shed further light on the infraspecific relationships within C. melo, we compared genotypic and metabolomic similarities among 44 accessions representative of most of the cultivar-groups. Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) provided over 20,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Metabolomics data of the mature fruit flesh and rind provided over 80,000 metabolomic and elemental features via an orchestra of six complementary metabolomic platforms. These technologies probed polar, semi-polar, and non-polar metabolite fractions as well as a set of mineral elements and included both flavor-and taste-relevant volatile and non-volatile metabolites. Together these results enabled an estimate of “metabolomic/elemental distance” and its correlation with the genetic GBS distance of melon accessions. This study indicates that extensive and non-tar