Methyl jasmonate encapsulated in protein-based nanoparticles to enhance water dispersibility and used as coatings to improve cherry tomato storage

Abstract

Exogenous methyl jasmonate (MeJA) has been demonstrated to improve plant resistance to environmental stresses and fruit storability, but its poor aqueous solubility limits its application. This work fabricated colloidal-stable MeJA loaded gliadin-casein nanoparticles (MeJA/G-C NPs) to increase its water dispersibility and applied it as edible coatings to improve storability of cherry tomato. The NPs could increase the dispersibility of MeJA by 30-fold to 20 mmol L−1 with a mean particle diameter of 218 ± 2 nm, and zeta-potential of 13.7 ± 0.2 mV. The multiple light scattering test showed that MeJA as cargo could hinder the flocculation/coalescence of the nanocarrier system. Molecular docking showed that the interactions between MeJA with gliadin were stronger than that with casein. The MeJA is encapsulated in gliadin via hydrophobic interactions of alkyl groups augmented by three hydrogen bonds between the CO groups of MeJA and the Leu149, Val148, and Ile109 of gliadin. The MeJA/G-C NPs could effectively delay the ripening process and maintain the quality of cherry tomato during room temperature storage. It also alleviated chilling injury (CI) in cherry tomatoes during long-term cold storage. This study is beneficial for the development of edible nano-coatings and MeJA in postharvest applications.