PsbHLH58 positively regulates sucrose accumulation by modulating Sucrose synthase 4 in 'Fengtang' plum (Prunus salicina Lindl.)

Sugar content is an important factor that largely determines fruit quality. 'Fengtang' plum (Prunus salicina Lindl.) is recognized for its high soluble sugar content, and the Sucrose synthase 4 (PsSUS4) functions as the controlling step in sucrose accumulation. Nevertheless, the transcriptional mechanism of PsSUS4 underlying sucrose production in this high-sugar plum remains unclear. In this work, a bHLH transcription factor PsbHLH58 was identified to be positively correlated with PsSUS4 expression and fruit sucrose content based on the transcriptome data and qRT-PCR validation. Further yeast one-hybrid and dual-luciferase assays confirmed that PsbHLH58 acts as a transcriptional activator of PsSUS4 via specifically binding to its promoter. Manipulation of the PsbHLH58 expression in fruits through transient overexpression and gene silencing resulted in significant corresponding changes in PsSUS4 expression and sucrose accumulation. In addition, it was also found that the expression levels of PsbHLH58 and PsSUS4 are positively regulated by ethylene, accompanied by an increased sugar accumulation in the fruits. Consequently, these results demonstrated a novel mechanism involving the PsbHLH58-PsSUS4 module that mediates the sugar accumulation in 'Fengtang' plum and provided a new insight into the future fruit quality improvement.