Melon is an important horticultural crop in the world with a wide distribution, large cultivation areas, and nutritious fruit. Melon originated in tropical and subtropical regions and is a typical warm-loving crop. It has a high temperature requirement throughout its growth period, especially in the seedling stage. China is the world's largest producer of melon, and in northern China, melon is often grown in early spring. 

 

However, there have been no reports on the trade-off between cold tolerance and fruit quality in melon. Currently, most of the melon varieties popular in China do not have strong cold tolerance. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore the genes related to the trade-off between cold tolerance in the melon seedling stage and fruit quality for the coordinated improvement of these two important traits.

 

Recently, a research team from the College of Horticulture at Henan Agricultural University conducted a metabolomic analysis of the mature fruit flesh of eight different cold-tolerant melon germplasms using GC-MS. The results showed that CmEAF7 is a positive regulatory factor for cold tolerance in melon seedlings, while also positively regulating the accumulation of sucrose and fructose in melon fruit. CmEAF7 can be considered an "ideal" trade-off gene for balancing cold tolerance and fruit quality in melon seedlings, and has potential application value in the coordinated improvement of important melon traits.