Abstract
An increasing attention is being given to treat fruits with ultraviolet C (UV-C) irradiation to extend shelf-life, senescence, and protection from different diseases during storage. However, the detailed understanding of the pathways and key changes in gene expression and metabolite accumulation related to UV-C treatments are yet to be explored. This study is a first attempt to understand such changes in banana peel irradiated with UV-C. We treated Musa nana Laur. with 0.02 KJ/m2 UV-C irradiation for 0, 4, 8, 12, 15, and 18 days and studied the physiological and quality indicators. We found that UV-C treatment reduces weight loss and decay rate, while increased the accumulation of total phenols and flavonoids. Similarly, our results demonstrated that UV-C treatment increases the activity of defense and antioxidant system related enzymes. We observed that UV-C treatment for 8 days is beneficial for M. nana peels. The peels of M. nana treated with UV-C for 8 days were then subjected to combined transcriptome and metabolome analysis. In total, there were 425 and 38 differentially expressed genes and accumulated metabolites, respectively. We found that UV-C treatment increased the expression of genes in secondary metabolite biosynthesis related pathways. Concomitant changes in the metabolite accumulation were observed. Key pathways that were responsive to UV-C irradiation include flavonoid biosynthesis, phenylpropanoid bios6ynthesis, plant-pathogen interaction, MAPK signaling (plant), and plant hormone signal transduction pathway. We concluded that UV-C treatment imparts beneficial effects on banana peels by triggering defense responses against disease, inducing expression of flavonoid and alkaloid biosynthesis genes, and activating phytohormone and MAPK signaling pathways.
Highlights
China is a major consumer as well as producer of banana
Effect of ultraviolet C (UV-C) Treatments on Banana Peel Appearance and Quality In this study, M. nana peel was irradiated with a dose of 0.02 KJ/ m2 for 0–18 days under controlled temperature and humidity
We found that the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were enriched in Flavone and flavonol biosynthesis, starch and sucrose metabolism, plant-hormone signal transduction, MAPK signaling pathway-plants, plant-pathogen interaction, and carotenoid biosynthesis
Summary
China is a major consumer as well as producer of banana. In 2019, China produced 11,655.65 thousand metric tons of bananas; Guangdong being the major banana production area (4,648.31 thousand metric tons) (https://www.statista.com/statistics/ 242954/banana-production-in-china-by-region/). China imported 1.94 million tons of banana in 2019 alone (www.producereport.com). The produced and imported banana needs to be transported to the consumers fresh and disease free. In order to keep bananas fresh, there are several storage methods; one of which is getting popularity nowadays i.e., treatment with ultraviolet C (UV-C) irradiation. It is a nonionizing and nonthermal way which improves the storability of fruits and reduces deterioration of fruits and vegetables by triggering defense responses (Wituszyńska and Karpiński, 2013; Ding and Ling, 2014; Xu and Liu, 2017). The dose, application period, and the mechanism of UV-C action on fruits is still at the exploratory stage
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