Fig. 8

Expression profiles of genes involved in the carotenoid pathway of different flesh-colored watermelons. The FPKM of genes was listed in Additional file 1: Table S11. The heatmap cell from left to right represents R_10DAP, P_10 DAP, O_10 DAP, Y_10 DAP, W_10 DAP, R_20 DAP, P_20 DAP, O_20 DAP, Y_20 DAP, W_20 DAP, R_34 DAP, P_34 DAP, O_34 DAP, Y_34 DAP, and W_34 DAP. The colored cell represents the normalized gene expression levels according to the color scale. Metabolites background was colored according to their compound colors. Enzymes were presented in red font. DXS, 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate synthase; DXR, 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase; GGPS, geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase; GGPR, Geranylgeranyl diphosphate reductase; PSY, phytoene synthase; PDS, phytoene desaturase; ZDS, ζ-carotene desaturase; CRTISO, carotenoid isomerase; LCYE, lycopene ε-cyclase; LCYB, lycopene β-cyclase; CHYB, β-carotene hydroxylase; ZEP, zeaxanthin epoxidase; VDE, Violaxanthin de-epoxidase; NXS, neoxanthin synthase; NCED, 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase