Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 J Plant Growth Regul DOI 10.1007/s00344-017-9710-x Jasmonate Metabolism and Its Relationship with Abscisic Acid During Strawberry Fruit Development and Ripening Adrián Garrido‑Bigotes 1,2  · Pablo M. Figueroa 1  · Carlos R. Figueroa 1   Received: 11 February 2017 / Accepted: 24 April 2017 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2017 Furthermore, we propose an antagonistic relationship from the JA to the ABA pathway during non-climacteric straw- berry fruit development and ripening. Keywords Abscisic acid (ABA) · Anthocyanins · Fragaria × ananassa  · Fruit development and ripening · Jasmonoyl-isoleucine (JA-Ile) · Oxylipins Introduction Fruits, during the course of their development from ovary to maturity, experience a wide range of molecular and physiological changes, where ripening-related changes associated with color, fruit softening, increase in specifc volatiles, and alterations in the sugar/acid balance can be observed (Cherian and others 2014). In addition, fruit development and ripening is regulated by several phy- tohormones, although ethylene and abscisic acid (ABA) have been described as the main regulators of ripening in climacteric tomato fruit and in non-climacteric strawberry fruit, respectively (Jia and others 2011; Symons and others 2012; Cherian and others 2014). Exogenous ABA activates the phenylpropanoid pathway and increases anthocyanin content in strawberry fruit (Jiang and Joyce 2003). This was confrmed by Jia and others (2011) by showing that an increase of endogenous ABA during fruit development and ripening promotes the red coloration of strawberry fruits by an increase in anthocyanin content. Furthermore, the RNAi-mediated downregulation in fruit of FaNCED1 (9-cis epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase), a regulatory ABA biosynthesis gene, resulted in decreased red coloration and anthocyanin content (Jia and others 2011). The dynamics and role of other hormones like auxin, brassinosteroids, and gibberellins during the initial stages Abstract The plant hormone jasmonoyl-isoleucine (JA- Ile) is involved in stress response, development, and sec- ondary metabolite production, although its role in fruit development and ripening remains unknown. The aim of this study is to describe variations of endogenous jasmonate (JAs) contents and JA metabolism-related genes in order to associate these to the evolution of abscisic acid (ABA) con- tent during development and ripening of strawberry (Fra- garia × ananassa Duch. cv. Aromas) fruit. A quantitative analysis of phytohormones and gene expression was carried out using liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and quantitative reverse tran- scription PCR (RT-qPCR) assays, respectively. The expres- sion of genes encoding for JA metabolism enzymes exhib- ited a signifcant decrease concomitant to reduction of JAs and an increment of ABA levels from fowering to ripening stages. Exogenous application of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) triggered anthocyanin accumulation along with an increase in JA-Ile, JA, and MeJA levels, and a concomitant decrease in ABA. Together, these results provide insights into JAs homeostasis during strawberry fruit development, suggest- ing that MeJA-induced anthocyanin accumulation could be mediated by the activation of the JA signaling pathway. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00344-017-9710-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Carlos R. Figueroa cfgueroa@utalca.cl 1 Phytohormone Research Laboratory, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Talca, Campus Talca, Avda. Lircay s/n, Casilla 747, Talca, Maule, Chile 2 Faculty of Forest Sciences, University of Concepción, Victoria 631, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Bío Bío, Chile