Dataset of the changes in sugarbeet taproot cell wall composition, firmness, and cell wall-related gene expression as a function of postharvest storage time and temperature

L.) cell walls influence root susceptibility to physical damage, pathogens, and dehydration during storage, affect factory efficiency and sugar recovery during processing, and generally deteriorate during storage. The specific biochemical and genetic changes that occur after harvest and are responsible for root quality deterioration, however, are largely uncharacterized. Data were collected of the changes in tissue strength, expression of genes that participate in the biosynthesis, degradation or modification of cell walls, and the concentrations of the major classes of chemical compounds that compose cell walls in sugarbeet roots at harvest and following 12, 40, and 120 d storage at 5°C and 95% relative humidity or 12°C and 95% relative humidity. Root tissue strength was measured by penetrometry; gene transcript abundances were determined by RNA sequencing; cell walls isolated from homogenized tissue were fractionated and the concentrations of total cell wall material, cellulose, hemicellulose, total pectin, water-soluble pectin, chelator-soluble pectin, carbonate-soluble pectin, and lignin were determined. Additionally, cell wall-related genes altered in expression during storage were functionally annotated and categorized according to the cell wall component upon which they acted, and their differential expression as a function of storage time and temperature was determined. This dataset describes and quantifies the genetic and biochemical changes occurring in cell walls following harvest which affect sugarbeet root storability and processing quality and is potentially useful for identifying biochemical and genetic targets that can be selected or manipulated for improved storage and processing properties.