The dilute HCl pretreatment of the calcareous red alga, Liagora viscida, either at room temperature or 100 °C, produced Ca2+/carrageenan-containing extracts. Dipping strawberries in these extracts ...for 10 s demonstrated their ability to maintain various quality and nutritional traits during cold storage. The weight loss of the fruits after 7 days at 4 °C was reduced to 2.48–2.63 % in the treatments, compared to 3.26 % in the control. The treatments were effective in retaining the contents of vitamin C, titratable acidity, and phenolics, compared to marked reductions in the control. Additionally, the levels of anthocyanins, flavonoids, and the total antioxidant capacity were enhanced during cold storage. The treated fruits also showed higher chitinase activities, while the activities of cellulase, polygalacturonase, and pectin methylesterase (PME) showed remarkable reductions. The application of the extract derived at 100 °C reduced the decay caused by Botrytis cinerea decay to 34 % and 63.26 % after 3 and 4 days of infection, respectively, compared to 55.09–97 % in the untreated control. This reduction was concomitant with higher anthocyanins, flavonoids, and chitinase, and lower cellulase and PME in this treatment. The levels of malondialdehyde indicated less stressed fruits during both cold storage and fungal infection. Overall, the treatments promoted systemic resistance in the fruits, enhancing their ability to defend against pathogens. These results suggest the promising utilization of calcareous macroalgae as a sustainable biomass for developing a cost-effective and eco-friendly preservative to extend the shelf-life of strawberries during cold storage and enhance their resistance to pathogens.
•Acidic treatment of calcareous alga produced calcium/carrageenan extract.•The extract maintained the postharvest quality of strawberry.•Treatments markedly reduced the fungal deterioration.
As universal energy currency, intracellular ATP (iATP) shortages in horticultural crops during postharvest stresses and senescence. In addition to function as intracellular energy currency, ATP ...serves as friendly extracellular signaling molecule (eATP).
Postharvest treatments attenuate stresses, delay senescence and maintain quality in horticultural crops by ensuring sufficient iATP supplying, which was accompanied with lower phospholipase D (PLD) and lipoxygenase (LOX) enzymes activity concomitant with higher antioxidant system activity which along with higher heat shock proteins (HSPs) accumulation resulting in lower reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation leading to higher membrane unsaturated/saturated fatty acids (unSFA/SFA), higher shikimate and phenylpropanoid pathways activity revealing by higher phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) enzyme activity leading to higher phenols accumulation, higher endogenous proline and glycine betaine accumulation, higher endogenous polyamines accumulation, and higher pathogenesis (PRs) proteins accumulation, which are crucial for membrane fluidity and integrity maintaining and cell wall fortification. In addition to intracellular energy currency, friendly eATP signaling is crucial for promoting iATP biosynthesis machinery activity and reinforcing defense response by triggering jasmonic and salicylic acids signaling pathways. Also, friendly eATP signaling not only is crucial for regulating stomatal closure which is pivotal for attenuating stresses and delaying senescence in horticultural crops but also is crucial for postharvest biofactories representing high phenols accumulating fresh horticultural crops in response to abiotic stresses which are beneficial for human health.
Ensuring sufficient iATP supplying and friendly eATP signaling would be crucial for attenuating stresses, delaying senescence and maintaining quality in horticultural crops during postharvest life.
•Ensuring sufficient iATP supplying attenuates stresses, delays senescence and maintains quality.•Ensuring sufficient iATP supplying is crucial for postharvest biofactories.•GABA shunt attenuates stresses, delays senescence and maintains quality by ensuring sufficient iATP supplying.•Friendly eATP signaling is crucial for attenuating stresses, delaying senescence and maintaining quality.•Friendly eATP signaling is crucial for postharvest biofactories.
Pickering emulsion, a novel technique that uses solid particles as emulsion stabilizers has attracted attention because of its long-term storage stability and good coalescence stability. This can ...help to prolong the shelf life of fresh produce. The poor water vapor barrier, ultraviolet (UV), mechanical, and antifungal capacities of alginate film limit its application in fruit preservation. In this study, alginate (Alg) films with improved water vapor permeability (WVP), mechanical properties, and ultraviolet (UV) barrier were prepared with ylang-ylang oil (YYO) Pickering emulsion (PE). YYO was added as an antimicrobial agent. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were used as natural stabilizers to prepare YYO PE. The final coating comprised 1% Alg (alginate), Alg/0.24% CNCs, and Alg/0.5% YYO PE. The impacts of YYO-PE on the properties of Alg films were investigated, and their effects on post-harvest control of mandarins were evaluated. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) was used to identify the components of YYO. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed an increase in the roughness of the films containing the Alg/YYO PE. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis revealed no new interactions in the Alg/YYO PE films. Moisture content (MC) and thermal properties were lower for Alg/YYO-PE films. The Alg/YYO-PE coating lowered the weight loss (7.84 ± 1.76%) and inhibited (p < 0.05) the growth of Penicillium italicum (P. italicum) and Penicillium digitatum (P. digitatum). The inhibition percentages were 56.02% and 47.98%, respectively, for the inoculated mandarins. In conclusion, the Alg/YYO PE coating and film have the potential to be an eco-friendly active packaging material in the food sector.
Display omitted
•A novel Alg/YYO PE coating and film were developed for active packaging.•Alg/YYO PE maintained quality, reducing weight loss, and increasing firmness.•Addition of YYO PE enhanced Alg coating’s antifungal activity on mandarins.•Alg/YYO PE effectively controlled citrus fruit decay.
The development of edible coating to maintain the quality of fruit are rising. The aims of this work are to develop a novel chitosan nanoparticle (Chi-NP) in chitosan (Chi) Pickering emulsion coating ...co-stabilized cellulose nanofibers (CNF) and to characterize the antifungal and hydrophobicity features of the coating film. As an application, tangerine and tomato were coated and stored at ∼18 °C and ∼48% RH. The coating formulation consisted of 0.8% Chi and 0.5% Caj. Chi-NPs at 0.06% or 0.12% dosage were used as an emulsion co-stabilizer of CNFs (0.24%). The pH was adjusted below the isoelectric point to obtain beneficial properties of Chi-NP (both stabilizer and antifungal co-agent), partially by the amino group protonation. The incorporation of Chi-NP may improve the performance of Chi and Chi/CNF antifungal activities additively, against Penicillium digitatum and Rhizopus stolonifera, as confirmed with a series of assays (in vitro, in vivo, and membrane integrity changes). The incorporation of CNF- or CNF/Chi-NP-stabilized Pickering emulsion contributed to enhance one of functional properties of pure Chi coating, hydrophobicity, as confirmed using water contact angle and fruit weight loss. This novel coating film may have potential applications for maintaining the quality of fruit, particularly from fungal decay.
•Preparing the antifungal coating film for fresh fruit application based on chitosan.•Increasing antifungal activity by incorporating cajuput oil Pickering emulsion.•Improving hydrophobicity by the addition of co-stabilizer and essential oil.•Cajuput oil stabilized with cellulose nanofibers/chitosan nanoparticles.
During postharvest life, intracellular sugar insufficiency accompanied by insufficient intracellular ATP and NADPH supply, intracellular ROS overaccumulation along with intracellular ABA accumulation ...arising from water shortage could be responsible for accelerating fruits and vegetables deterioration through promoting SnRK1 and SnRK2 signaling pathways while preventing TOR signaling pathway. By TOR and SnRK1 signaling pathways manipulation, sufficient intracellular ATP and NADPH providing, supporting phenols, flavonoids and anthocyanins accumulation accompanied by improving DPPH, FRAP, and ABTS scavenging capacity by enhancing phenylpropanoid pathway activity, stimulating endogenous salicylic acid accumulation and NPR1-TGA-PRs signaling pathway, enhancing fatty acids biosynthesis, elongation and unsaturation, suppressing intracellular ROS overaccumulation, and promoting endogenous sucrose accumulation could be responsible for chilling injury palliating, fungal decay alleviating, senescence delaying and sensory and nutritional quality preservation in fruits and vegetables. Therefore, TOR and SnRK1 signaling pathways manipulation during postharvest shelf life by employing eco-friendly approaches such as exogenous trehalose and ATP application or engaging biotechnological approaches such as genome editing CRISPR-Cas9 or sprayable double-stranded RNA-based RNA interference would be applicable for improving fruits and vegetables marketability.
•TOR and SnRK1 signaling pathways regulate intracellular sugar and energy status.•TOR and SnRK1 signaling manipulation improve fruits and vegetables marketability.•TOR and SnRK1 signaling manipulation promote salicylic acid signaling.•TOR and SnRK1 signaling manipulation ensure sufficient intracellular ATP providing.•TOR and SnRK1 signaling manipulation suppresses intracellular ROS overaccumulation.
We studied degradation patterns and microorganisms preserved in permineralized stems of Rhexoxylon piatnitzky, Protojuniperoxylon ischigualastense, and Agathoxylon argentinum from the Valle de la ...Luna Member of the Ischigualasto Formation (Upper Triassic, San Juan, Argentina). All three species show loss of middle lamella, thinning, and whitening of tracheid cell walls, and detachment of the S3 layer, consistent with selective delignification by white rot. This type of rot is the product of lignin and cellulosic degradation by Basidiomycetes and Ascomycetes. Rhexoxylon piatnitzkyi also shows small cavities, more or less circular in outline, on the wall of tracheids. This is known as soft rot and can be produced by some Ascomycetes, the anamorphic phases of diverse fungi, and tunneling bacteria. Additionally, abundant and diverse microorganisms were found. Rhexoxylon piatnitzkyi shows fragments of septate hyphae, evidence of bacterial activity, and structures of unknown affinity. Protojuniperoxylon ischigualastense presents structures common to anamorphic phases of diverse fungi, such as chlamydospores and conidiophores. Lastly, Agathoxylon argentinum bears coiled and septate hyphae, and a fan-shaped mycelium, whose significance is discussed. The microbiological study was complemented by the assessment of sedimentary and taphonomic data of the fossil-bearing beds. A gradual increment in humidity for the Valle de la Luna Member is interpreted, which concludes with a humidity peak in its upper section. This contribution represents the first detailed study of xylophagous and saprophyte micro-communities for the Ischigualasto Formation. The abundance and diversity of microorganisms described illustrate the complexity of wood-inhabiting micro-communities from the Carnian-Norian interval of Argentina.
•Triassic woods from Ischigualasto Formation with soft, white, and white-pocket rot.•Fossil fungi and fungi-like microorganisms are described in stem tissues.•Dark globules are interpreted as evidence of bacterial activity.•Microorganisms correspond to abundant and diverse saprophytes and parasites.•A seasonal humid to subhumid climate with periodic droughts is inferred.
Display omitted
•Antifungal effect of some native essential oils against A. Alternata &P. expansum was studied.•Antifungal synergistic activity of EOs combinations was tested.•in vivo effect of EOs ...combinations on jujube fruit was proved.•The postharvest quality of treated jujube fruit using EOs combination was monitored.
Antifungal activity and biochemical changes in jujube fruit treated with the synergistic combinations of some essential oils were investigated to extend the postharvest shelf-life. The combinations of thyme-rosemary and thyme-cinnamon showed synergistic effects (fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI) ≤0.5) against Alternaria alternata. The same interaction was also observed in the dual combinations of cinnamon-marjoram, and thyme-cinnamon in inhibiting the Penicillium expansum, and a triple combination of cinnamon-rosemary-thyme. Also, the synergistic effects of the dual treatment of thyme (0.312 g L−1)-cinnamon (0.312 g L−1) and triple treatment of cinnamon (0.156 g L−1)-rosemary (0.625 g L−1)-thyme (0.078 g L−1) in inhibiting both spoilage fungi in jujube fruit were confirmed. Furthermore, the treatment of jujube fruit with dual or triple EOs has been effective on the phenolic compounds, flavonoids, polyphenol oxidase (POD) and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) activities. Moreover, controlled respiratory activity and weight loss as well as ascorbic acid stability during the storage period were recorded for jujube fruit treated with EOs.
For the first time, this study describes the dynamics of white rot fungal decay in a petrified conifer branch with clear araucarian affinity from the late Aptian Crato Lagerstätte (Santana Formation, ...Araripe Basin, northeastern Brazil). High resolution optical microscopy was used to identify tridimensional chemical and anatomical evidence in different regions of the bark and xylem tissues of permineralized shoots, and results support the hypothesis that the host responded to disease that may have started when it was still alive. The wood decay pattern was strongly indicative of the selective decay by white rot. The general pattern of interaction is consistent with pathogenic rather than saprophytic fungal activity. Analysis of fungus–plant interactions associated with growth ring patterns imply intermittent periods of favorable temperature-moisture inputs that were crucial for fungal activity during the deposition of the Crato fossil Lagerstätte included in the Tropical Equatorial Hot arid belt.
•Decay by white rot occurred in a late Aptian araucarian branch from the Crato Member.•Selective delignification dominated the decay process.•Cell wall apposition, barrier and reaction zones imply attack in living plant.•Favorable temperature-moisture inputs occurred in Tropical Equatorial Hot arid belt.
•Preharvest treatments with MeJA and chitosan showed positive effect.•Chitosan-treated fruits presented high antioxidant capacity and anthocyanin.•MeJA-treated fruits showed a higher lignin content ...and lower decay.•Elicitors improved the postharvest fruit quality and delayed decay incidence.
Fragaria chiloensis fruit has a short postharvest life mainly due to its rapid softening. In order to improve its postharvest life, preharvest applications of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and chitosan were evaluated during postharvest storage at room temperature. The quality and chemical parameters, and protection against decay were evaluated at 0, 24, 48 and 72h of storage from fruits of two subsequent picks (termed as first harvest and second harvest). In general, fruits treated with MeJA and chitosan maintained higher levels of fruit firmness, anthocyanin, and showed significant delays in decay incidence compared to control fruit. MeJA-treated fruits exhibited a greater lignin content and SSC/TA ratio, and delayed decay incidences. Instead, chitosan-treated fruits presented higher antioxidant capacity and total phenol content. In short, both the elicitors were able to increase the shelf life of fruits as evidenced by the increased levels of lignin and anthocyanin, especially of the second harvest.
