Comparative physiological and transcriptomic analysis reveal MdWRKY75 associated with sucrose accumulation in postharvest ‘Honeycrisp’ apples with bitter pit

BACKGROUND: Calcium (Ca) deficiency can cause apple bitter pit, reduce the quality and shelf life. WRKY transcription factors play essential role in plant response to multiple disorders. However, the underlying mechanisms causing bitter pit in apple fruit due to Ca deficiency during storage is extremely limited. RESULTS: In the present study, the nutritional metabolites and reactive oxygen species (ROS) were compared in Ca-deficient and healthy apple fruit (CK) during storage. Results showed that Ca-deficient apples sustained significantly higher production of ROS, PPO activity, flavonoids, total phenol, total soluble solids (TSS), and sucrose contents, but the contents of Ca, H(2)O(2), titratable acids (TA), glucose and fructose were significantly lower than those of CK during storage. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that TSS, •O(2)(−), PPO, malondialdehyde (MDA) and Ca were the main factors, and TSS had a positive correlation with sucrose. Furthermore, transcriptome analysis revealed that WRKYs were co-expressed with sucrose metabolism-related enzymes (SWEETs, SS, SPS). qRT-PCR and correlation analysis indicated that MdWRKY75 was correlated positively with MdSWEET1. Moreover, transient overexpression of MdWRKY75 could significantly increase the sucrose content and promote the expression of MdSWEET1 in apple fruit. CONCLUSIONS: Calcium deficiency could decrease antioxidant capacity, accelerate nutritional metabolism and up-regulate the expression of WRKYs in apple with bitter pit. Overexpression of MdWRKY75 significantly increased sucrose accumulation and the expression of MdSWEET1. These findings further strengthened knowledge of the basic molecular mechanisms in calcium deficiency apple flesh and contributed to improving the nutritional quality of apple fruit. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12870-022-03453-8.