An antifungal role of hydrogen sulfide on the postharvest pathogens Aspergillus niger and Penicillium italicum

PLoS One. 2014 Aug 7;9(8):e104206. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104206. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

In this research, the antifungal role of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) on the postharvest pathogens Aspergillus niger and Penicillium italicum growing on fruits and under culture conditions on defined media was investigated. Our results show that H2S, released by sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) effectively reduced the postharvest decay of fruits induced by A. niger and P. italicum. Furthermore, H2S inhibited spore germination, germ tube elongation, mycelial growth, and produced abnormal mycelial contractions when the fungi were grown on defined media in Petri plates. Further studies showed that H2S could cause an increase in intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in A. niger. In accordance with this observation we show that enzyme activities and the expression of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) genes in A. niger treated with H2S were lower than those in control. Moreover, H2S also significantly inhibited the growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Rhizopus oryzae, the human pathogen Candida albicans, and several food-borne bacteria. We also found that short time exposure of H2S showed a microbicidal role rather than just inhibiting the growth of microbes. Taken together, this study suggests the potential value of H2S in reducing postharvest loss and food spoilage caused by microbe propagation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antifungal Agents / pharmacology*
  • Aspergillus niger / growth & development*
  • Candida albicans / growth & development
  • Food Microbiology*
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen Sulfide / pharmacology*
  • Penicillium / growth & development*
  • Reactive Oxygen Species / metabolism
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / growth & development

Substances

  • Antifungal Agents
  • Reactive Oxygen Species
  • Hydrogen Sulfide

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (31271803 to LYH, 31301820 to HZ, 31300133 to KDH) http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/, the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars (SRF for ROCS, SEM to HZ), the Natural Science Foundations of Anhui Province (11040606M85 to HZ) and the Anhui Provincial Education Department (2012AJZR0028 to HZ). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.