Cell wall metabolism in “Dixiland” peaches after harvest and heat treatment.

CLAUDIA BUSTAMANTE; MARTIN A. LAUXMANN; JULIA BORSANI; VERÓNICA A. LOMBARDO; CLAUDIO BUDDE; RICARDO MURRAY; CARLOS S. ANDREO; MARÍA V. LARA; MARÍA F. DRINCOVICH

Tucumán

Congreso; XLV Annual meeting - Argentine Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SAIB).; 2009

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Bioquímica y Biología Molecular (SAIB)

Refrigeration of peaches during marketing and shipping affects fruit quality causing physiological disorders collectively named chilling injury (CI). To alleviate CI, different strategies have been applied before cold storage, among them heat treatment (HT) have been widely used. In this work, we analyze ethylene production, fruit firmness and the expression of enzymes and proteins involved in cell wall metabolism in peaches immediately after harvest (C), during ripening at 20ºC for 3, 5 and 7 d (C+3, C+5 and C+7), or after exposed to 39ºC for 3 d (TT) followed by 3 d at 20ºC (TT+3). For the group of fruit kept at 20ºC, a typical softening behaviour was observed, as well as an increase in ethylene production. In contrast, during the 3 d of HT, fruit maintained their firmness, which rapidly decreased after transfer to 20ºC. Relative expression of genes encoding proteins involved in cell wall metabolism was analyzed by qRT-PCR. Cell wall-related genes showed different expression patterns during ripening at 20ºC. However, TT decreased markedly the accumulation of all of them. Once TT fruits were transferred to 20ºC after HT, an increase in gene expression occurred to different extent depending on the transcript analysed. This study will help in the identification of the principal cell wall proteins involved in peach softening and their putative role in some CI symptoms alleviation.