JAZ2/JAZ4-MYC2.1 module mediates MeJA-induced alleviation of chilling injury in peach fruit (Prunus persica)

Abstract

Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) has emerged as a promising agent for mitigating chilling injury (CI) in peach fruit (Prunus persica); however, the molecular mechanisms underlying the role of MYC2, a key transcriptional regulator of jasmonic acid (JA) signaling, in mediating cold adaptation remain largely unexplored. In this study, we demonstrated that MeJA treatment effectively alleviated CI in peach fruit, accompanied by enhanced ethylene biosynthesis, elevated accumulation of polyphenols and flavonoids, and a marked reduction in reactive oxygen species levels. Using DNA affinity purification sequencing and transactivation assays, we identified PpMYC2.1 as a central regulator that directly activates key genes involved in ethylene-mediated fruit softening (PpIAA1, PpHB.G7, PpERF61, PpPL1, PpPG2, and PpXTH2) and phenylpropanoid metabolism (PpPAL1, Pp4CL, PpCHI3, and PpCHS). Stable overexpression of PpMYC2.1 in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) significantly enhanced fruit tolerance to cold stress. Meanwhile, transient overexpression or silencing in peach fruit upregulated or downregulated the expression of its target genes, confirming its positive regulatory role in cold stress response. Mechanistically, MeJA downregulated the expression of transcriptional repressors PpJAZ2 and PpJAZ4, thereby alleviating their suppression of PpMYC2.1-mediated transactivation. Collectively, these findings reveal a previously uncharacterized JA-responsive transcriptional module, PpJAZ2/4-PpMYC2.1, that orchestrates cold stress adaptation in peach fruit, offering novel insights into postharvest preservation strategies for climacteric fruit.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate.

Acknowledgements

We thank Hebei Bluescape Scientific Biotechnology Co., Ltd for DAP-seq data analysis. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32402645, 32271930), the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program (ASTIP)(CAAS-ASTIP-2025-ZFRI), the Central Public-Interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund (no. ZGS202209).

Authors contributions

A.L. performed most of the experiments and wrote the manuscript. H.W. and A.B. performed the DAP-seq analysis. J.M., S.S., and Y.G. provided servers and technical support. L.P., G.C., Z.W., L.N. and W.D. provided data information. W.Z. participated in project administration and revised the manuscript. All the authors approved the manuscript.

Data availability

The transcriptome data underlying this article are available in the China National Center for Bioinformation (CNCB) repository (https://ngdc.cncb.ac.cn/bioproject/) under the BioProject ID: PRJCA042417.

Conflicts of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest associated with this work.

Supplementary material

Supplementary material is available at Horticulture Research online.

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