Volatiles and Transcriptome Profiling Revealed the Formation of ‘Taro-like’ Aroma in the Leaf of Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata)

‘Taro-like’ odor is an important economic trait of pumpkin species. The metabolic and molecular bases this aromatic remain largely unexplored. Therefore, in study, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, GC-Olfactometry, RNA-seq technology were used to illuminate the differential volatile compounds, key differentially expressed genes (DEGs) leaves from two samples. Eight including (E)-2-nonenal, 3-octanol, 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, 1-nonanol, α-terpineol, 2,3-pentanedione, caryophyllene, 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, only detected sample with ‘taro-like’ aroma. Moreover, variable importance projection scores all above eight compounds >1.0 using PLS-DA analysis. (E)-3,7-dimethyl-2,6-octadienal identified as contributors GC-Olfactometry It was determined that 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline might play a significant role Furthermore, most derived fatty acids, DEGs also involved pathways related degradation, metabolism, biosynthesis acids. five accumulation showed expression, their expression trends consistent 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline. This study offers basis for further studies on mechanism aroma pumpkins.