Metabolic changes associated with chilling injury tolerance in tomato fruit with hot water pretreatment

Abstract

Hot water treatment (HWT) of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) fruit reduces the symptoms of chilling injury (CI). The aim of this study was to identify metabolites associated with HWT-induced CI tolerance in tomato fruit cv. Imperial. Mature green tomatoes with HWT (42°C/5 min) and control were stored under chilling conditions (5°C/20 days) and then ripened (21°C/7 days). Methanol extracts from pericarp were analyzed for total phenolics (TP), antioxidant activity (AoxA), and metabolic profiling by UPLC-DAD-MS and GC-MS. After cold storage and ripening, HWT fruit showed less CI, higher TP, and AoxA than control. It also showed an increased accumulation of phenolics, sugars, and some alkaloids that may be mediated by azelaic acid, glutamine, and tryptophan. The levels of N-feruloyl putrescine, esculeoside AII, and hydroxyα-tomatine II were reduced. The better metabolic performance of HWT fruit under cold storage was associated with a higher accumulation of several metabolites (e.g., antioxidants and osmolytes) in ripening fruit. Practical application:The identification of metabolites associated with the reduction of chilling injury (CI) symptoms in HWT tomato fruit extends the understanding of the mechanisms involved in CI tolerance. This information provides targets that could be used to develop strategies for preventing CI (e.g., genetic improvement of tomato, direct application of key metabolites). The application of such strategies will increase the economic value and decrease postharvest losses.

Biochemical and molecular changes in peach fruit exposed to cold stress conditions

“…In particular, peach fruit with higher concentration of sugars are more resistant to CI than those with lower concentrations (Brizzolara et al 2018;Tanou et al 2017;Wang et al 2013;Wu et al 2016;Yu et al 2015;Yu et al 2017;Zhang et al 2020) and in turn CI causes a decrease of sugars in fruit (He et al 2018;Monti et al 2019). The link between sugar metabolism and CI has been also reported in fruits such as pear, banana, tomato, bell pepper, and pomegranate (Delgado-Vargas et al 2022;Gómez et al 2009;Liu et al 2019a;Lorente-Mento et al 2023;Xu et al 2023;Yang et al 2023). Several studies reported how the increased tolerance to CI observed in fruits in response to the application of exogenous treatments was connected to the enhancement of sugar metabolism (Zhang et al 2021).…”