Revolutionizing Postharvest Storage with Melatonin: Mechanisms of Chilling Tolerance in Fruits and Vegetables

By Jorge Luis Alonso with ChatGPT This paper, published in the Journal of Future Foods, reviews recent advances in melatonin-mediated physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms of cold tolerance in fruits and vegetables. Below is a summary of the review. After harvest, fruits and vegetables undergo a rapid and spontaneous deterioration process that results in a decline of desirable characteristics like flavor, color, texture, and nutritional value. This process is irreversible and leads to a reduction in storage life. Furthermore, stored fruits and vegetables tend to decay and deteriorate due to the depletion of stored energy, membrane degradation, and substrate oxidation. To prevent this, the physicochemical activities of fruits and vegetables can be regulated by temperature and relative humidity conditions. One way to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables is through cold storage. However, it is important to note that low temperatures can also cause chilling injury, resulting in surface pitting, browning, decay, and discoloration. This can ultimately lead to a loss of consumer preference. To address this, researchers have investigated the use of melatonin, a hormone, and regulator found in plants, to extend the postharvest life of fruits and vegetables in cold storage conditions. Melatonin has been shown to induce chilling tolerance by triggering reactive oxygen species (ROS), enhancing antioxidants, improving radical scavenging, and improving enzyme activities. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in research on the effects of melatonin on plants, indicating its potential for regulating cold stress and maintaining oxidant/antioxidant balance. In this review, researchers from Nanjing Agricultural University (China) and Dilla University (Ethiopia) explore the state-of-the-art of melatonin-mediated chilling tolerance on fruit and vegetable storage, summarizing its effects on various aspects of horticultural produce.? According to them, melatonin, derived from tryptophan, plays a crucial role in plant systems. It appears in various parts of the plant and is produced at high levels during stress conditions. When it comes to cold storage, melatonin has the potential to induce resistance to different stresses. To achieve this, it coordinates a range of actions, such as triggering the antioxidant system, removing ROS, enhancing signaling molecules, and increasing stress-free amino acids like polyamines, proline, GABA, and nitric oxide contents.? Melatonin also regulates fatty acid metabolism, protects the membrane from damage, and increases essential enzymes involved in energy metabolism. All of these actions help to enhance cold tolerance in fruits and vegetables. To fully understand the impact of melatonin on postharvest stress conditions, it is important to conduct more studies to discover melatonin receptors and sensors. Furthermore, there are currently limited studies on the transcriptomic and genome-wide identification of melatonin-mediated effects on cold storage in various fruits and vegetables.? Therefore, in-depth molecular studies are necessary to validate all the biochemical, enzymatic, and physiological mechanisms that contribute to cold storage tolerance in postharvest conditions. Source: Miilion Paulos Madebo, Shunqing Hu, Yonghua Zheng, Peng Jin. Mechanisms of chilling tolerance in melatonin treated postharvest fruits and vegetables: a review. Journal of Future Foods, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2021. Author:?Jorge Luis?Alonso G. (with ChatGPT)?Maximizing Agribusiness Profits with Expert Postharvest Storage Strategies | Horticultural Writing Specialist.?This article was written exclusively for the business platform Postharvest. Image by Jasmine Lin from Pixabay