Stone cells have been described to substantially influence pear fruit quality, as lignin and cellulose are the main components of stone cells. However, there are limited studies on the relationship between the variation and molecular basis of stone cells, lignin and cellulose content among different pear varieties. Here, to reveal the variation of stone cell content within different cultivated species, we collected 236 germplasms of sand pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) at 50 days after flower blooming (DAFB), the key stage of stone cell formation. In our results, we measured the content of stone cells, lignin and cellulose and found that these contents ranged from 2.82% to 29.00%, 8.84% to 55.30% and 11.52% to 30.55%, respectively. Further analysis showed that the variation coefficient of stone cell, lignin and cellulose content was 39.10%, 28.03% and 16.71%, respectively. Additionally, a significant correlation between stone cell, lignin and cellulose content were detected, and the correlation coefficient between the contents of stone cell and lignin (0.912) was higher than between the contents of stone cell and cellulose (0.796). Moreover, the average lignin content (29.73%) was higher than the average cellulose content (18.03%) in stone cells in pear fruits, indicating that lignin is the main component of stone cell in pears. Finally, on the basic of the transcriptome data, we identified 10 transcription factors belonging to bHLH, ERF, MYB, and NAC transcript families, which might be involved in lignin formation in stone cells. qRT-PCR experiments verified coincident trends between expression of candidate genes and stone cell content. This research laid foundation for future studies on genetic variation of stone cells in pear fruits and provided important gene resources for stone cell regulation.

由于木质素和纤维素是石头细胞的主要成分，因此已经描述了石头细胞会实质上影响梨果实的品质。然而，关于不同梨品种间石细胞的变异和分子基础，木质素和纤维素含量之间关系的研究很少。在这里，为了揭示不同栽培物种中石细胞含量的变化，我们收集了236种沙梨种质（Pyrus pyrifolia）在花朵盛开后的第50天（DAFB），是石头细胞形成的关键阶段。在我们的结果中，我们测量了石细胞，木质素和纤维素的含量，发现它们的含量分别为2.82％至29.00％，8.84％至55.30％和11.52％至30.55％。进一步分析表明，石细胞，木质素和纤维素含量的变异系数分别为39.10％，28.03％和16.71％。另外，石细胞，木质素和纤维素含量之间存在显着相关性，石细胞和木质素含量之间的相关系数（0.912）高于石细胞和纤维素含量之间的相关系数（0.796）。此外，梨果实核细胞中的平均木质素含量（29.73％）高于平均纤维素含量（18.03％），表明木质素是梨中石头细胞的主要成分。最后，根据转录组数据，我们确定了10个转录因子bHLH，ERF，MYB和NAC转录本家族，可能与石细胞中木质素的形成有关。qRT-PCR实验验证了候选基因表达与石细胞含量之间的一致趋势。该研究为梨果核细胞遗传变异的进一步研究奠定了基础，并为调控核果细胞提供了重要的基因资源。