Transcriptome and metabolomic analysis to reveal the browning spot formation of ‘Huangguan’ pear

BACKGROUND: Browning spot (BS) disorders seriously affect the appearance quality of ‘Huangguan’ pear and cause economic losses. Many studies on BS have mainly focused on physiological and biochemical aspects, and the molecular mechanism remains unclear. RESULTS: In the present study, the structural characteristics of ‘Huangguan’ pear with BS were observed via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the water loss and brown spots were evaluated, and transcriptomic and metabolomics analyses were conducted to reveal the molecular mechanism underlying ‘Huangguan’ pear skin browning disorder. The results showed that the occurrence of BS was accompanied by a decrease in the wax layer and an increase in lignified cells. Genes related to wax biosynthesis were downregulated in BS, resulting in a decrease in the wax layer in BS. Genes related to lignin were upregulated at the transcriptional level, resulting in upregulation of metabolites related to phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. Expression of calcium-related genes were upregulated in BS. Cold-induced genes may represent the key genes that induce the formation of BS. In addition, the results demonstrated that exogenous NaH(2)PO(4)·2H(2)O and ABA treatment could inhibit the incidence of BS during harvest and storage time by increasing wax-related genes and calcium-related genes expression and increasing plant resistance, whereas the transcriptomics results indicated that GA(3) may accelerate the incidence and index of BS. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate a molecular mechanism that could explain BS formation and elucidate the effects of different treatments on the incidence and molecular regulation of BS. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12870-021-03049-8.