Multiple metabolomics comparatively investigated the pulp breakdown of four dragon fruit cultivars during postharvest storage

Qixian Wu; Huijun Gao; Ziming You; Zhengke Zhang; Hong Zhu; Mingyang He; Junxian He; Xuewu Duan; Yueming Jiang; Ze Yun

doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2022.112410

Multiple metabolomics comparatively investigated the pulp breakdown of four dragon fruit cultivars during postharvest storage

Food Res Int. 2023 Feb:164:112410. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2022.112410. Epub 2022 Dec 28.

Authors

Qixian Wu¹, Huijun Gao², Ziming You³, Zhengke Zhang⁴, Hong Zhu³, Mingyang He³, Junxian He⁵, Xuewu Duan³, Yueming Jiang³, Ze Yun⁶

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of South China Agricultural Plant Molecular Analysis and Genetic Improvement & Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China National Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China; Technology Center, China Tobacco Guangdong Inductrial Co., Ltd, China.
² Institute of Fruit Tree Research, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China.
³ Key Laboratory of South China Agricultural Plant Molecular Analysis and Genetic Improvement & Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China National Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China.
⁴ College of Food Science and Technology, Hainan University, China.
⁵ School of Life Sciences and State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of South China Agricultural Plant Molecular Analysis and Genetic Improvement & Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China National Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China. Electronic address: yunze@scbg.ac.cn.

PMID: 36737991
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2022.112410

Abstract

Pulp breakdown is the main reason for the reduction of fruit quality. However, there are relatively few studies on small molecule metabolites based on the pulp breakdown of dragon fruit. In this study, four dragon fruit cultivars were comparatively analyzed during pulp breakdown. According to five firmness-related and six quality-related indicators, the pulp breakdown rates from low to high were 'Baiyulong (WP, with white pulp)', 'Dahong (RP, with red pulp)', 'Hongshuijing (CRP, with red pulp)' and 'Baishuijing (CWP, with white pulp)'. Five secondary metabolites showed cultivar-specific accumulation, and the increase of their contents during postharvest storage might be related to delaying pulp breakdown. After multiple metabolomics analysis, a total of 186 metabolites were identified, among which 14 primary metabolites, 23 volatiles, 2 hydrolyzed amino acids and 12 free amino acids were considered as key metabolites. The contents of hydrocarbons in WP and RP were much higher than that in CWP and CRP, which was negatively correlated with pulp breakdown. White pulp were rich in amino acids, while red pulp had more soluble sugars, aldehydes and terpenes. The contents of 13 key metabolites increased during pulp breakdown in all four cultivars, mainly including amino acids and alkanes. The contents and changes of those key metabolites might directly or indirectly respond to the pulp quality and resistance of dragon fruit.

Keywords: Aldehydes and alcohols; Amino acids profiling; Firmness-related quality; Hydrocarbons; Primary metabolites profiling; Secondary metabolites-related quality; Sugars-related quality; Volatiles profiling.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Amino Acids / analysis
Fruit* / chemistry
Metabolomics*
Sugars / analysis

Substances

Sugars
Amino Acids