Exogenous Arginine Treatment Maintains the Appearance and Nutraceutical Properties of Hard- and Soft-Seed Pomegranates in Cold Storage

Abstract

Arginine is a natural preservative; however, its effects on the storage of different cultivars of pomegranates have not been investigated extensively. Therefore, the fruit quality of soft-seed Tunisia and hard-seed Yudazi pomegranates was investigated after treatment with arginine at four concentrations during cold storage for 80 days. Pomegranates treated with 1.0 mM arginine exhibited a relatively lower loss of vitamin C, soluble solid, total phenol, and anthocyanin contents in arils, together with a better fruit appearance. Combined with principal component analysis (PCA), the storage life of fruits treated with 1.0 mM arginine showed a higher correlation with antioxidant enzyme activity (e.g., superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and catalase (CAT)) during the first 40 days of cold storage, whereas after 40 days of cold storage, storage life was more dependent on the integrity of the cell membrane affected by malondialdehyde (MDA) content, electrolyte leakage (EL), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) accumulation. Arginine treatment contributed significantly to the appearance and inner quality of the hard-seed pomegranate cv. Yudazi fruit during cold storage compared to those of soft-seed Tunisia. Taken together, arginine application combined with cold storage enhanced the nutraceutical properties and marketability of pomegranate fruits.

Ultrasound treatment alleviates external pericarp browning and improves fruit quality of pomegranate during storage

“…Overall, the decrease in SOD and CAT and the increase in POD and PPO might cause quality loss and the development of browning; 9 accordingly, ultrasound improved pomegranate fruit quality attributed to reducing browning rate by lower POD and PPO enzyme activity, and scavenging reactive oxygen species by enhancing enzyme activities of SOD and CAT in the current study. The degradation of anthocyanins was also attenuated in the ultrasound treatments (Fig.…”

“…7,8 To maintain the postharvest quality and nutraceutical properties of fruit and vegetables, researchers are encouraged to discover safe procedures to minimize the loss. Various treatments both prolong the storage life and improve the quality of fresh pomegranate fruit, such as arginine, 9 clove essential oil loaded chitosan nanoparticles, 10 melatonin, 11 and so on.…”

Overexpression of PgCBF3 and PgCBF7 Transcription Factors from Pomegranate Enhances Freezing Tolerance in Arabidopsis under the Promoter Activity Positively Regulated by PgICE1

“…P. granatum vs. ‘Yudazi’ and ‘Tunisia’ plants were grown in the fruit tree experimental station of the College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China. ‘Yudazi’ has a strong tolerance to low temperature, while ‘Tunisia’ has a weak tolerance to low temperature [ 39 ]. Cuttings from ‘Yudazi’ and ‘Tunisia’ were rooted and grown in a growth chamber at 22 °C and 75% of relative moisture with a 16/8 light/dark photoperiod.…”

“…Freezing injury has become one of the most crucial limiting factors in commercial pomegranate production, as pomegranate plants do not survive long below −15 °C [ 35 ]. Currently, the research on the pomegranate cold tolerance mainly focused on the pomegranate fruit during cold storage [ 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ]. However, little research has been reported on the molecular mechanism of cold resistance in pomegranate.…”

Combining Cobalt Ferrite Nanozymes with a Natural Enzyme to Reshape the Tumor Microenvironment for Boosted Cascade Enzyme-Like Activities

“…Natural enzymes catalyze specific biochemical reactions in almost all life processes. − However, owing to the low activities against non-natural substrates, as well as inherent limitations such as a low yield, high purification cost, and poor stability in different media, native or recombined enzymes have confronted great challenges for commercial and biomedical applications. Due to the booming breakthroughs in nanotechnology, varieties of nanomaterials with unique catalytic characteristics circumvent the abovementioned limitations and broaden an ever-evolving toolbox of artificial enzymes. − Elaborate design and construction of nanomaterials with enzyme-mimetic characteristics, also known as “nanozymes”, have revolutionized the fundamental understanding of biology and chemistry. − With the merits of facile synthesis, tunable catalytic activities, robustness to severe environments, easy modification, excellent stability, and low manufacturing cost compared to natural enzymes, nanozymes facilitate a plethora of promising candidates in the fields of biosensing, bioimaging, and therapeutics of some diseases. − Presently, numerous nanomaterials have been discovered to feature oxidoreductase-like characteristics with similar kinetics and mechanisms as native enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase oxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), or dehydrogenase. − However, an enzyme-involved in situ catalysis process is insufficient to complete a biomedical reaction efficiently, and sequential reactions may be a more feasible alternative, also known as cascade reactions, and have been delicately programmed for integrating at least two reactions concurrently.…”