As the most valuable organ of tomato plants, fruit has attracted considerable attention which most focus on its quality formation during the ripening process. A considerable amount of research has reported that fruit quality is affected by metabolic shifts which are under the coordinated regulation of both structural genes and transcriptional regulators. In recent years, with the development of the next generation sequencing, molecular and genetic analysis methods, lots of genes which are involved in the chlorophyll, carotenoid, cell wall, central and secondary metabolism have been identified and confirmed to regulate pigment contents, fruit softening and other aspects of fruit flavor quality. Here, both research concerning the dissection of fruit quality related metabolic changes, the transcriptional and post-translational regulation of these metabolic pathways are reviewed. Furthermore, a weighted gene correlation network analysis of representative genes of fruit quality has been carried out and the potential of the combined application of the gene correlation network analysis, fine-mapping strategies and next generation sequencing to identify novel candidate genes determinants of fruit quality is discussed.

Rice with panicle-blast resistance is needed for stable rice production. Although we have previously demonstrated that OsGF14b underlies a quantitative trait locus that positively regulates rice panicle blast resistance, the mechanism is still unknown. In this study, a multi-omics approach was used to investigate the possible downstream signaling pathway regulated by OsGF14b. OsGF14b both strongly activated the gibberellin biosynthetic pathway during pathogen infection and reprogrammed the lignin biosynthetic pathway. Reduced lignin accumulation was observed in glumes of OsGF14b-overexpressing plants in comparison with the wild type after pathogen inoculation. OsGF14b activated the auxin and jasmonic acid signaling pathways, but inactivated the salicylic acid signaling pathway. Auxin and jasmonic acid appeared to act independently on OsGF14b-mediated panicle blast resistance. The roles of gibberellin, lignin, and auxin were different from their roles in leaf blast, suggesting that different mechanisms underlie leaf and panicle blast resistance in rice. This study provides a comprehensive catalog of molecular changes that could be targets for future studies of rice panicle blast resistance.