Genome-wide identification of circRNAs involved in tomato fruit coloration

Abstract Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are an emerging class of non-coding RNAs in plants. Our aim is to identify the circRNAs with different expression levels between tomato fruits from two cultivars (‘Jinling Fenyu’ and ‘Jinling Moyu’) at two different developmental stages. Following high-throughput sequencing, 3796 circRNAs were identified, and 243 circRNAs were shared in the four samples. As compared with the fruit at mature green stage, the expression levels of 273 and 89 circRNAs were significantly altered in the fruit at turning stage from ‘Jinling Fenyu’ and ‘Jinling Moyu’, respectively. Moreover, the parental genes of the circRNAs with significantly different expression level were mainly involved in metabolic, cellular and single-organism process and played roles in catalytic activity and binding based on GO (Gene Ontology) analysis. The results suggested that circRNAs were widespread in tomato and were generated from different chromosomes and diverse genomic regions. Some circRNAs were specific in tomato fruits at different developmental stages, which enriches the number of circRNAs in plants involved in fruit coloration and ripening. This study provides the first genome-wide profile of circRNAs involved in tomato fruit coloration and lays a foundation for studying the potential biological functions of circRNAs involved in fruit ripening.