Transcriptome-wide N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation profiling of fresh-cut potato browning inhibition by nitrogen

Although fresh-cut potato is extremely popular, it is highly prone to browning, severely affecting its quality and shelf life. Nitrogen treatment can inhibit fresh-cut potato browning. Potato browning from the perspective of transcriptome-wide N-6-methyladenosine (m(6)A) methylation has not yet been reported. This study performed transcriptome-wide m(6)A-sequencing of fresh-cut potato from nitrogen-treated group (1 h N-2) and control group (1 h CK and 0 h CK) to reveal the m(6)A methylation modification features, and determine the methylation sites of the differentially methylated genes (DMGs). Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis indicated that the DMGs in 1 h CK vs 0 h CK and 1 h N-2 vs 1 h CK were mainly enriched in the isoflavonoid and betalain biosynthesis pathways, respectively. The m(6)A modifications in potato were mainly enriched around the 3'-untranslated region and stop codons of the coding sequence. The DMG expression was further verified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), while the methylation sites were determined using SELECT qPCR. This study is the first to reveal the transcriptome-wide m(6)A profile of potato, which may provide new insight into inhibiting fresh-cut potato browning using nitrogen treatment from the perspective of m(6)A methylation.