Nitric oxide (NO) is an important regulator of plant response to cold stress. In this study, NO treatment delayed the development of chilling injury (CI), inhibited the increase in H2O2 content, O2- production rate and decrease in firmness of postharvest peach fruit. Meanwhile, through RNA-seq analysis, NO treatment up-regulated gene expression of PpG-6-PDH, Pp6-PGDH and PpAOX while it down-regulated the expression of PpGPI and PpHK, suggesting that the pentose phosphate respiratory pathway and cyanide-resistant respiratory pathway were promoted and the glycolysis pathway was inhibited. Furthermore, the PpAOX expression was consistent with the trend of PpPOD1/2 expression and H2O2 content, indicating that AOX may play a role in reducing oxidative damage of peach fruit by scavenging H2O2. Thus, it was concluded that NO treatment could induce the cyanide-resistant respiration pathway to enhance antioxidant ability and chilling tolerance in post-harvest peach fruit.
Keywords: Alternative oxidase; Antioxidant defense; Chilling injury; Prunus persica; Respiration pathway.
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