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. 2024 Dec 17:15:1502623.
doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1502623. eCollection 2024.

Mechanism of abscisic acid in promoting softening of postharvest 'Docteur Jules Guyot' pear (Pyrus communis L.)

Affiliations

Mechanism of abscisic acid in promoting softening of postharvest 'Docteur Jules Guyot' pear (Pyrus communis L.)

Xiaofei Xu et al. Front Plant Sci. .

Abstract

Abscisic acid (ABA) is a key hormone in plant growth and development, playing a central role in responses to various biotic and abiotic stresses as well as in fruit ripening. The present study examined the impact of ABA and nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) on various postharvest 'Docteur Jules Guyot' pear fruit characteristics, including firmness, pectinase activity, pectin content, volatile aromatic substances, and the expression of correlated genes. The results showed that ABA quickly reduced fruit firmness, increasing the activity of pectin degradation-related enzymes. The contents of water-soluble pectin (WSP) and ionic-soluble pectin (ISP) increased, and covalent binding pectin (CBP) decreased under ABA treatment. Among the detected volatile aromatic substances, the highest-level substance of the fruit was ester, and the ABA treatment significantly promoted the amount of ester substances. The cell wall disassembly-related genes PcPME3, PcPG1, PcPG2, PcPL, PcARF2, and PcGAL1, as well as ABA biosynthesis-related genes PcNCED1 and PcNCED2, were also significantly induced by ABA. Conversely, all these genes were repressed in the NDGA treatment group. Therefore, it was speculated that ABA may promote the softening of postharvest European pear fruit by affecting the activity of pectin degradation enzymes in fruit cell walls.

Keywords: abscisic acid; pectin; postharvest; softening; ‘Docteur Jules Guyot’ pear.

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Conflict of interest statement

Author HZ was employed by the company Zhaoyuan Shenghui Agricultural Technology Development Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Phenotypes and physiological changes of ‘Docteur Jules Guyot’ pear after treatment with ABA or NDGA. (A) Appearance of ‘Docteur Jules Guyot’ pear. (B) Firmness of ‘Docteur Jules Guyot’ pear. (C–E) L*, a*, and b* of ‘Docteur Jules Guyot’ pear. L*, lightness; a*, reddish green degree (+: red, -: green); b*, yellowish blue degree (+: yellow, -: blue). (F–H) Total soluble solids (TSS) content, total acid content, and TSS/acid. The error bars come from three repeated SE. The observed LSD values suggest the presence of LSD with a significance level of P = 0.05.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Pectin content and pectin degradation enzymes of ‘Docteur Jules Guyot’ pear after ABA or NDGA treatment. (A) Content of water-soluble pectin (WSP). (B) Content of ionic-soluble pectin (ISP). (C) Content of covalent binding pectin (CBP). (D) Activity of polygalacturonase (PG). (E) Activity of pectin methylesterase (PME). (F) Activity of pectate lyase (PL). The error bars come from three repeated SE. The observed LSD values suggest the presence of LSD with a significance level of P = 0.05.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Volatile compound analysis of ‘Docteur Jules Guyot’ pear fruit. (A) Different volatile contents of ‘Docteur Jules Guyot’ pear fruit in ABA or NDGA treatment. (B) Heatmap presentation of all volatiles in ABA- or NDGA-treated pear fruit. (C–E) Profiles of acetic acid, butyl ester, acetic acid, pentyl ester, formic acid, and hexyl ester in the flesh of ‘Docteur Jules Guyot’ pear. The error bars come from three repeated SE. The observed LSD values suggest the presence of LSD with a significance level of P = 0.05.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Expression of different pectin degradation enzyme encoding genes under ABA or NDGA treatment. The gene expressions of PcPMEs, PcPGs, PcPL, PcARFs, and PcGALs were analyzed using RT-qPCR. The error bars come from three repeated SE. The observed LSD values suggest the presence of LSD with a significance level of P = 0.05.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Expression of PcNCEDs and PcCYP707As under ABA or NDGA treatment. The error bars come from three repeated SE. The observed LSD values suggest the presence of LSD with a significance level of P = 0.05.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Correlation analysis between physiological properties, enzymatic activity involved in the degradation of pectin, pectin content, volatile compound contents, expression levels of pectin degradation-related enzyme genes, and the expression of PcNCEDs and PcCYP707As in ‘Docteur Jules Guyot’ pear fruit. Positive and negative correlations are shown in red and blue, respectively (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001).

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