Nitric Oxide as a Key Gasotransmitter in Fruit Postharvest: An Overview

Abstract

Currently, the field of postharvest technology is a growing research area of particular interest since the increase in world population and the need to satisfy its nutritional requirements. These aspects establish a demand to produce fruits with high market quality while minimizing the losses from production to consumption stages. In the past few years, nitric oxide (NO) has emerged as a novel gasotransmitter to improve fruit postharvest shelf-life, owing to its influence on physiological processes (including fruit ripening) and on acclimation responses to stress conditions. In this review, we summarize some of the research related to the effects of NO exposure on different fruits with the aim to extend postharvest shelf-life and quality. The protection against chilling injury and postharvest diseases are addressed. The mechanisms of NO action and its interactions with other phytohormones are analyzed. Finally, the potential use of NO donors (and other strategies destined to enhance its levels) with a technological scope is also discussed.

Beneficial Effects of Sodium Nitroprusside on the Aroma, Flavors, and Anthocyanin Accumulation in Blood Orange Fruits

“…NO treatment has been shown to improve sugar accumulation and limit anthocyanin degradation [ 8 , 12 , 13 , 14 ], which supports our strategy to improve the quality of blood orange fruit by NO treatments on living blood orange trees. In addition, the mechanisms by which NO improves fruit flavors were further explored in this study.…”

“…Nitric oxide (NO) is a highly active substance that acts as an antioxidant and biological messenger in plant systems. NO is a signal molecule with multiple functions, such as regulating flowering transition [ 6 ], promoting photosynthesis [ 7 ], and participating in fruit ripening [ 8 , 9 ]. The fruit ripening process is related to reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and increased lipid peroxidation.…”

“…Exogenous NO prevents the elevation of H 2 O 2 levels and lipid peroxidation, and it combines with 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) oxidase (ACO) to form a binary complex (ACO-NO), which further combines with ACC to produce a stable ACC-ACO-NO complex. ACC-ACO-NO inhibits the increase in abscisic acid (ABA) and ethylene levels [ 10 , 11 ], delays fruit senescence, inhibits the activity of cell wall softening enzymes (polygalacturonase, pectin methylesterase, and pectate lyase), delays pectin degradation, and maintains fruit firmness [ 8 ].…”

“…This ultimately led to the inhibition of polysaccharide biosynthesis, the accumulation of monosaccharides, and the increased sweetness of Arabidopsis plants [ 12 ]. NO also increased the concentration of sugars in pear and papaya [ 8 ].…”

Use of nitric oxide for ripening delay and oxidative stress reduction in Cavendish banana stored in a controlled atmosphere

“…Wu et al (2014) observed that NO pretreatment at 22°C reduced oxidative stress and chill damage in bananas stored at 7°C. The effect of NO depends on its concentration, the fruit species (Manjunatha et al, 2010), and the time of exposure to the gas (Buet et al, 2021). There are no studies evaluating the effect of NO on the ripening delay and oxidative stress of bananas in CA storage conditions.…”