ISHS Acta Horticulturae 464: International Postharvest Science Conference Postharvest 96
METABOLIC RESPONSES OF FRUIT TO CARBON DIOXIDE |
| Authors: | Chris B. Watkins, J. Zhang |
| Abstract:
Fruit can respond beneficially and/or deleteriously to CO2 in the storage atmosphere depending on sensitivity of the tissue to the gas and its concentration, length of exposure, and temperature. Beneficial effects of CO2 on fruit quality include decreased respiration and ethylene production, delayed ripening, and inhibition of decay and some physiological disorders. Deleterious effects include development of off-flavors and CO2 injury. In this paper we briefly review available information on CO2 effects on respiratory metabolism, ethylene biosynthesis, and volatile production. These effects are complex and progress in understanding them has been slow. At the molecular level, most information is largely limited to effects of CO2 on the ethylene biosynthetic pathway. Here, we also describe progress on characterization of molecular responses of strawberry fruit to high CO2 treatment, using the mRNA differential display technique to identify differentially expressed genes. To date, genes encoding alcohol dehydrogenase and succinic dehydrogenase have been identified from comparison with published sequences. | |
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