摘要Proanthocyanidins(PAs)are specialized me-tabolites that influence persimmon fruit quality.Normal astringent(A)-type and non-astringent(NA)-type mutants show significant variation in PA accumulation,but the influencing mecha-nism remains unclear.In this study,among the six identified DTXs/MATEs proteins associated with PA accumulation,we observed that allelic variation and preferential transport by DkDTX5/MATE5 induced variation in PA accumulation for A-type and NA-type fruit.The expression pattern of DkDTX5/MATE5 was correlated with PA accumulation in NA-type fruit.Upregulation and downregulation of DkDTX5/MATE5 promoted and inhibited PA accumulation,respectively,in the NA-type fruit.Interestingly,transporter as-says of Xenopus laevis oocytes indicated that DkDTX5/MATE5 preferentially transported the PA precursors catechin,epicatechin,and epi-catechin gallate,resulting in their increased ra-tios relative to the total PAs,which was the main source of variation in PA accumulation between the A-type and NA-type.The allele lacking Ser-84 in DkDTX5/MATE5 was identified as a dominantly expressed gene in the A-type and lost its transport function.Site-directed muta-genesis revealed that DkDTX5/MATE5 binds to PA precursors via Ser-84.These findings clarify the association between the transporter function of DkDTX5/MATE5 and PA variation,and can contribute to the breeding of new cultivars with improved fruit quality.