A 0.005% and 0.01% morin treatment was applied to treat mango fruits stored under ambient conditions (25 ± 1 °C) with 85-90% relative humidity, and the effects on quality indexes, enzyme activity related to antioxidation and cell wall degradation, and gene expressions involved in ripening and senescence were explored. The results indicate that a 0.01% morin application effectively delayed fruit softening and yellowing and sustained the nutritional quality. After 12 days of storage, the contents of soluble sugar and carotenoid in the treatment groups were 68.54 mg/g and 11.20 mg/100 g, respectively, lower than those in control, while the vitamin C content in the treatment groups was 0.58 mg/g, higher than that in control. Moreover, a morin application successively enhanced the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POD), but reduced the activity of polygalacturonase (PG) and pectin lyase (PL). Finally, real-time PCR and correlation analysis suggested that morin downregulated the ethylene biosynthesis (ACS and, ACO) and signal transduction (ETR1, ERS1, EIN2, and ERF1) genes, which is positively associated with softening enzymes (LOX, EXP, βGal, and EG), carotenoid synthesis enzymes (PSY and, LCYB), sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS), and uncoupling protein (UCP) gene expressions. Therefore, a 0.01% morin treatment might efficiently retard mango fruit ripening and senescence to sustain external and nutritional quality through ethylene-related pathways, which indicates its preservation application.
Keywords: gene expression; mango; morin; quality deterioration; ripening and senescence.