Application of melatonin in kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) alleviated chilling injury during cold storage
2022
Jiao, Jianqing | Jin, Mijing | Liu, Hui | Suo, Jiangtao | Yin, Xueren | Zhu, Qinggang | Rao, Jingping
Functions of melatonin in fruit storage were studied, primarily focused on stress tolerance and delaying senescence. However, little is known about the role of melatonin in chilling injury on kiwifruit. The present study examined the roles of exogenous melatonin in coping with low temperature during storage of kiwifruit. Our results showed that melatonin application eased water-soaked and lignification symptoms in postharvest kiwifruit under low-temperature storage. Observation of the ultrastructure found that the plasma membrane and organelles maintained structural integrity accompanied with a thinner lignin layer in the cytoderm and cytoplasm with melatonin treatment. Melatonin treatment strongly inhibited the activity of lignin metabolism enzymes (PAL, 4CL and C4H) and the expression of structural genes while increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, APX and GR) and antioxidant substance (AsA and GSH) accumulation. These results suggest that melatonin actively participates in cold resistance and lignin accumulation via enzyme activity regulation in postharvest kiwifruit.
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