Gang Ma

Shizuoka University · Department of Biological and Environmental Science

Granulation is a serious physiological disorder in citrus fruit, which impairs the fruit quality and causes economic losses to the citrus industry. ‘Harumi’ ((Citrus unshiu × C. sinensis) × C. reticulate), a mandarin-type variety, is prone to granulation, especially after long-term storage. In the present study, to elucidate the molecular mechanism...

Citrus fruits such as Tachibana (Citrus tachibana Tanaka) contain various flavonoids that perform biological functions important to human health. Considering the growing public health consciousness, combined treatment with gibberellic acid and prohydrojasmon (GP), which is used in Japan, may be used to delay flavonoid degradation and maintain high...

Chlorophyll and carotenoid are the main pigments that are responsible for coloration of citrus fruit. The changes in their contents are related to the development stage in citrus fruit. During fruit maturation, carotenoids are massively accumulated in the flavedo and juice sacs, while the chlorophyll contents decreased rapidly. In contrast, the inc...

‘Miyagawa-wase’ (Citrus unshiu Marcow.), an early-season citrus variety, is rich in multiple nutrients and widely consumed in Japan. In ‘Miyagawa-wase’, when the pulp reaches maturity and is ready to eat, the peel is still a greenish color because of the relatively high temperature in the harvest season. In this study, to improve the coloration of...

Background: Flavanone 3-hydroxylase (F3H), a key enzyme in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway, plays an important role in the regulation of flavonols and anthocyanidins accumulation. Citrus fruit is a rich source of flavonoids with varied flavonoid compositions among different varieties. To date, the study on F3H is limited in citrus, and its role...

Citrus juice sacs, the major edible part of fruit, are one of the richest sources of carotenoids for human nutrition. In the juice sacs, high amounts of carotenoids are accumulated, and their contents and compositions vary greatly among different citrus varieties. In the past decades, the carotenoid in citrus fruit drew a lot of researcher's attent...

Fruit and vegetables, which represent an important part of our daily diet, are rich sources of bioactive compounds [...]

In this study, to further clarify the mechanism of mulching treatment-induced β-cryptoxanthin accumulation, the effects of mulching on the expression of carotenoid metabolic genes were investigated in the flavedo of satsuma mandarin ‘Aoshima unshiu’ during fruit maturation from September to November. The results showed that the β-cryptoxanthin cont...

In the present study, we studied the effects of gibberellic acid (GA) on chlorophyll and carotenoid metabolites and related gene expression during the regreening process in Valencia orange fruits (Citrus sinensis Osbeck). During the regreening, fruits treated with GA turned green much faster than those of the control. Compared with untreated fruits...

The morphological characteristics and fruit quality of an autotetraploid plant selected from nucellar seedlings of Satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu Marcow.) were investigated. Additionally, in order to evaluate the reproductive potential of male and female gametes of the tetraploid Satsuma mandarin, reciprocal crosses with diploid cultivars were als...

Combined spraying of gibberellin (GA) and prohydrojasmon (PDJ) was an effective method to prevent the physiological disorder of peel puffing in citrus fruit. However, the GA and PDJ combined treatment inhibited carotenoid biosynthesis during the fruit ripening process, which led to the mature fruit with poor color. In the present study, to improve...

Fruit softening, accompanied by cell wall polysaccharides degradation, is a common phenomenon in harvested mango (Mangifera indica L.) fruit. To reduce fruit’s firmness loss and maintain cell wall polysaccharides of mangoes, the effect of electron beam (E-beam) radiation on firmness, cell wall degrading enzyme activities, contents of cell wall poly...

Carotenoids are considered to be important components in mango fruits. However, there is a lack of understanding about the regulation of carotenoids in mango. To gain an insight into the carotenoid metabolism pathway, carotenoid content and the expression of carotenoid metabolic genes were investigated in the peel and pulp of mango during fruit dev...

Combined spraying of gibberellin (GA) and prohydrojasmon (PDJ) was an effective method to reduce peel puffing in Satsuma mandarins. However, in the GA-and-PDJ combined treatment, fruit color development was delayed during the ripening process. In the present study, to improve the coloration of the GA and PDJ-treated fruit, the effects of exogenous...

Salicylic acid and jasmonic acid are two important plant hormones that trigger the plant defense responses and regulate the accumulation of bioactive compounds in plants. In the present study, the effects of salicylic acid (SA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA) on flavonoid and carotenoid accumulation were investigated in the juice sacs of Satsuma mandar...

Nobiletin, a polymethoxy flavone (PMF), is specific to citrus and has been reported to exhibit important health-supporting properties. Nobiletin has six methoxy groups at the 3',4',5,6,7,8-positions, which are catalyzed by O-methyltransferases (OMTs). To date, researches on OMTs in citrus fruit are still limited. In the present study, a novel OMT g...

The ‘Siam Red Ruby’ (Citrus grandis) is a new lycopene-accumulating pumelo variety, which is grown only in the Pakpanang area of the Nakhon Si Thammarat province of Thailand. In this study, we harvested ‘Siam Red Ruby’ fruit at five ripening stages, and the changes in the accumulation of carotenoid and carotenogenic gene expression were investigate...

Citrus fruits are one of the most popular fruits in the world. They represent an important part of our daily diet not only because of the good taste, but also because of their high nutrition values and health benefits. It is well established that the consumption of citrus fruits reduces the risks of lifestyle-related diseases, such as cancers, card...

It was previously reported that the content of β-cryptoxanthin in juice sacs of Satsuma Mandarin was increased by mulching cultivation. In this study, to further clarify the mechanisms of mulching regulating β-cryptoxanthin accumulation, the effects of mulching on the expression of carotenoid metabolic genes were investigated in the juice sacs of S...

In this study, two temperature-induced lipocalin genes SlTIL1 and SlTIL2, and a chloroplastic lipocalin gene SlCHL were isolated from ‘Micro-Tom’ tomato. The coding sequences of SlTIL1, SlTIL2 and SlCHL were 558, 558, and 1002 bp, respectively. By TargetP analysis, no characteristic transit peptides were predicted in the proteins of SlTIL1 and SlTI...

SESSION III : SOLANACEAE BIOTECHNOLOGY SB-03 Function of lipocalin proteins in tomato is related to light and oxidative stress tolerance Anung Wahyudi1,2, Gang Ma2, Chikako Fukasawa2, Ryohei Nakano3, Reiko Motohashi2 1Politeknik Negeri Lampung, Indonesia 2Faculty of Agriculture, Shizuoka University, Japan 3Graduate School of Environmental and Li...

The present study investigated the regulation of carotenoid accumulation in response to temperatures (10, 20, and 30 °C) in citrus juice sacs in vitro. Carotenoid accumulation was induced at 10 °C, but was not affected at 30 °C in the Satsuma mandarin, Valencia orange, and Lisbon lemon. In the Satsuma mandarin and Valencia orange, carotenoid accumu...

In the present study, carotenoid metabolism was investigated in the fruits of a novel citrus cultivar, 'Seinannohikari' (Citrus spp.). During the maturation, β,β-xanthophylls were accumulated rapidly with β-cryptoxanthin being the dominant carotenoid compound in the flavedo and juice sacs of 'Seinannohikari'. In the juice sacs of mature fruits, 'Se...

Ascorbate is one of the most abundant soluble antioxidants in the plant. Multiple functions of ascorbate in photo protection have been proposed, including scavenging of reactive oxygen species generated by oxygen photoreduction and photorespiration. There is still unclear information relation to LED light with Ascorbate biosynthesis and metabolism,...

In this study, to investigate the xanthophyll accumulation in citrus fruits, the major fatty acid esters of β-cryptoxanthin and β-citraurin were identified, and changes in their contents were investigated in two Satsuma mandarin varieties, 'Miyagawa-wase' and 'Yamashitabeni-wase', during the ripening process. The results showed that β-cryptoxanthin...

To elucidate the regulation of ascorbic acid (AsA) metabolism in response to temperatures, three varieties of citrus juice sacs (Valencia orange, Lisbon lemon, and Satsuma mandarin) in in vitro culture system were subjected to different temperatures (10 °C, 20 °C, and 30 °C). The AsA accumulation was induced at 10 °C, whereas it was not significant...

Background Xanthophylls are oxygenated carotenoids and fulfill critical roles in plant growth and development. In plants, two different types of carotene hydroxylases, non-heme di-iron and heme-containing cytochrome P450, were reported to be involved in the biosynthesis of xanthophyll. Citrus fruits accumulate a high amount of xanthophylls, especia...

"Fairy chemicals", 2-azahypoxanthine (AHX) and 2-aza-8-oxohypoxanthine (AOH), are two novel plant-growth regulating compounds isolated from a fairy ring forming fungus Lepista sordida. In the present study, the effects of AHX and AOH on the accumulation of carotenoids and expression of genes related to carotenoid metabolism were investigated in the...

The effects of ethylene and red light-emitting diode (LED) light (660 nm) on the accumulation of carotenoid and expression of genes related to carotenoid biosynthesis were investigated in the flavedo of Satsuma mandarin. The results showed that the contents of β-cryptoxanthin, all-trans-violaxanthin, 9-cis-violaxanthin and lutein were simultaneousl...

The effects of red and blue light-emitting diode (LED) lights on the senescence of broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. italica) after harvest were investigated. The results showed that irradiation with red LED light was effective in delaying senescence in broccoli after harvest. Under red LED light, the yellowing process was delayed, and ethylene p...

In the present study, to investigate the pathway of β-citraurin biosynthesis, carotenoids contents and the expression of genes related to carotenoid metabolism were investigated in two citrus varieties of Satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu Marc.), 'Yamashitabeni-wase', which accumulates β-citraurin predominantly, and 'Miyagawa-wase', which does not ac...

The effects of electrostatic atomization on ascorbate (AsA) metabolism in broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. italica) were studied and the possible molecular mechanisms discussed. Electrostatic atomization, delayed the yellowing process, and ethylene production and respiration rates were significantly suppressed in broccoli after harvest. The AsA...

In the present study, two LCYb genes (CitLCYb1 and CitLCYb2) were isolated from Satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu Marc.), Valencia orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck) and Lisbon lemon (Citrus limon Burm.f.) and their functions were analyzed by the color complementation assay in lycopene-accumulating E. coli cells. The results showed that CitLCYb1 and Cit...

Living mulch has been adopted in orchard systems and proved effective in disease control and fruit quality improvement. However, no research has tried turfgrass as living mulch for field vegetable crops. In this study, several field experiments were conducted with tomato crops stripe-cultivated with turfgrass and the intercropped tomato crops showe...

Many people are adapted to the taste of paddy rice and therefore upland cultivation of paddy rice has been tried in water resource limited areas. However, the aerobic soil conditions make paddy rice susceptible to blast disease. The present study aimed at examining responses of grain yield, plant growth and physiology to the relatively anerobic soi...

β-Cryptoxanthin (β-cry), an antioxidant abundant in citrus fruits, plays an important role in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases, especially cancers. In the present study, to increase the content of β-cry in citrus flavedo, the effects of blue (470 nm) and red (660 nm) light-emitting diode (LED) lights on the accumulation of carotenoi...

In the present study, to investigate the mechanisms regulating carotenoid accumulation in citrus, a culture system was set up in vitro with juice sacs of three citrus varieties, Satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu Marc.), Valencia orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck), and Lisbon lemon (Citrus limon Burm.f.). The juice sacs of all the three varieties enlarge...

Transgenic broccoli plants carrying an antisense (AS) or a sense (S) BO-ACO 2 gene were successfully obtained by Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated method in our previous study. In the present study, the effects of BO-ACO 2 gene on ethylene biosynthesis and post-harvest senescence of transgenic broccoli were analyzed. Transgenic broccoli showed sig...

It has been confirmed by our previous study that the transgenic broccoli with a sense (S line) or an antisense (AS line) BO-ACO 2 gene shows delayed postharvest senescence. Since endogenous phytohormones play the main role in plant senescence, it is important to elucidate how phytohormones change and affect the postharvest senescence in transgenic...