Effect of pulsed light on postharvest disease control-related metabolomic variation in melon (Cucumis melo) artificially inoculated with Fusarium pallidoroseum

PLoS One. 2020 Apr 20;15(4):e0220097. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220097. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Pulsed light, as a postharvest technology, is an alternative to traditional fungicides, and can be used on a wide variety of fruit and vegetables for sanitization or pathogen control. In addition to these applications, other effects also are detected in vegetal cells, including changes in metabolism and secondary metabolite production, which directly affect disease control response mechanisms. This study aimed to evaluate pulsed ultraviolet light in controlling postharvest rot, caused by Fusarium pallidoroseum in 'Spanish' melon, in natura, and its implications in disease control as a function of metabolomic variation to fungicidal or fungistatic effects. The dose of pulsed light (PL) that inhibited F. pallidoroseum growth in melons (Cucumis melo var. Spanish) was 9 KJ m-2. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled to a quadrupole-time-of-flight (QTOF) mass analyzer identified 12 compounds based on tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) fragmentation patterns. Chemometric analysis by Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and Orthogonal Partial Least Squared Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA) and corresponding S-Plot were used to evaluate the changes in fruit metabolism. PL technology provided protection against postharvest disease in melons, directly inhibiting the growth of F. pallidoroseum through the upregulation of specific fruit biomarkers such as pipecolic acid (11), saponarin (7), and orientin (3), which acted as major markers for the defense system against pathogens. PL can thus be proposed as a postharvest technology to prevent chemical fungicides and may be applied to reduce the decay of melon quality during its export and storage.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Apigenin / metabolism
  • Cucurbitaceae / metabolism
  • Cucurbitaceae / microbiology*
  • Cucurbitaceae / radiation effects*
  • Flavonoids / metabolism
  • Fusarium / growth & development
  • Fusarium / radiation effects*
  • Glucosides / metabolism
  • Metabolomics / methods
  • Pipecolic Acids / metabolism
  • Plant Diseases / microbiology*
  • Plant Diseases / therapy*
  • Ultraviolet Rays

Substances

  • Flavonoids
  • Glucosides
  • Pipecolic Acids
  • saponarin
  • Apigenin
  • pipecolic acid
  • orientin

Grants and funding

This work was made possible with funding from the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq; http://www.cnpq.br/), the National Institute of Science and Technology (INCT BioNat, Brazil – grant No. 465637/2014-0) (http://inct-bionat.iq.unesp.br/), and the commercial sector of Norfruit Northeast Fruit. INCT had provided FOF a scholarship to research at EMBRAPA Tropical Agroindustry. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.