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Abstract
Citrate is one of the most important organic acids in many fruits and its concentration plays a critical role in organoleptic properties. The regulation of citrate accumulation throughout fruit development, and the origins of the phenotypic variability of the citrate concentration within fruit species remain to be clarified. In the present study, we developed a process-based model of citrate accumulation based on a simplified representation of the TCA cycle to predict citrate concentration in fruit pulp during the pre- and post-harvest stages. Banana fruit was taken as a reference because it has the particularity of having post-harvest ripening, during which citrate concentration undergoes substantial changes. The model was calibrated and validated on the two stages, using data sets from three contrasting cultivars in terms of citrate accumulation, and incorporated different fruit load, potassium supply, and harvest dates. The model predicted the pre and post-harvest dynamics of citrate concentration with fairly good accuracy for the three cultivars. The model suggested major differences in TCA cycle functioning among cultivars during post-harvest ripening of banana, and pointed to a potential role for NAD-malic enzyme and mitochondrial malate carriers in the genotypic variability of citrate concentration. The sensitivity of citrate accumulation to growth parameters and temperature differed among cultivars during post-harvest ripening. Finally, the model can be used as a conceptual basis to study citrate accumulation in fleshy fruits and may be a powerful tool to improve our understanding of fruit acidity.
Highlights
Citrate is one of the most important organic acids in many fruits [1], and its concentration in the pulp plays a critical role in organoleptic properties [2,3,4,5]
process-based simulation models (PBSMs) could help to elucidate the differences in citrate accumulation among and within fruit species, as it is the case for sugar accumulation in peach [15], and grape berry [16]
The pattern of citrate concentration in the pulp were the same in the Indonesia 110 (IDN) and Pisang Lilin (PL) cultivars with an overall decrease during ripening, whereas there was an doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0126777.g003
Summary
Citrate is one of the most important organic acids in many fruits [1], and its concentration in the pulp plays a critical role in organoleptic properties [2,3,4,5]. The accumulation of citrate in fruit cells is a complex phenomenon because it involves several metabolic pathways and transport mechanisms across different compartments, mainly cytosol, mitochondria, and vacuole (for review see [9]). Modeling Citrate Accumulation in Fruits metabolomic [11], proteomic [12], and QTL studies [13] have begun to elucidate the complexity of the mechanisms involved in citrate accumulation. Given the complexity of the processes involved, ecophysiological process-based simulation models (PBSMs) could advance our understanding of the physiological mechanisms underlying citrate accumulation [14]. PBSMs could help to elucidate the differences in citrate accumulation among and within fruit species, as it is the case for sugar accumulation in peach [15], and grape berry [16]
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