Abstract
Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) is a commercially relevant food crop with high demand worldwide. This species belongs to the Convolvulaceae family and is native to tropical and subtropical regions. Storage temperature and time can adversely affect tuberous roots’ quality and nutritional profile. Therefore, this study evaluates the effect of storage parameters using physicochemical and transcriptome analyses. Freshly harvested tuberous roots (Xingxiang) were stored at 13 °C (control) or 5 °C (cold storage, CS) for 21 d. The results from chilling injury (CI) evaluation demonstrated that there was no significant difference in appearance, internal color, weight, and relative conductivity between tuberous roots stored at 13 and 5 °C for 14 d and indicated that short-term CS for 14 d promoted the accumulation of sucrose, chlorogenic acid, and amino acids with no CI symptoms development. This, in turn, improved sweetness, antioxidant capacity, and nutritional value of the tuberous roots. Transcriptome analyses revealed that several key genes associated with sucrose, chlorogenic acid, and amino acid biosynthesis were upregulated during short-term CS, including sucrose synthase, sucrose phosphate synthase, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, 4-coumarate-CoA ligase, hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA quinate hydroxycinnamoyltransferase, serine hydroxymethyltransferase, alanine aminotransferase, arogenate dehydrogenase, and prephenate dehydratase. These results indicated that storage at 5 °C for 14 d could improve the nutritional quality and palatability of sweet potato tuberous roots without compromising their freshness.
Highlights
Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is an important crop that has recently been recognized as a functional food due to its health-promoting properties and nutraceutical components [1]
DisScuwseseitopnotato is globally recognized as a functional food due to its preventive andStwheeeratppeouttaitcoeifsfencotws agglaoibnasltlychrreocnoigcndiziesedaasessa[f1u].ncHtioowneavl efor,otdhde usewteoetintsepssreovfefnrteisvhelyand thhearravpeesutetidc sewffeecettspaogtaaitnosttucbherroonuiscrdoiostesaissesno[1t]e. nHoouwghe,vwerh, itchhe lsiwmeitestntheessaoccfefpretashnlcye hoafrcvoens‐ted swsuemeteprso.tCatooldtusbtoerraogues craonotismips rnoovteetnhoeusgwhe,ewtnheiscsholfimswitesetthpeotaactcoetputbanercoeuosfrcooontss,ubmuterlos.nCg‐old storage can improve the sweetness of sweet potato tuberous roots, but long-term storage will cause chilling injury (CI)
The development and likelihood of CI can depend on the sweet potato origin, variety, cultivar, harvest season, temperature, and chilling stress duration [20]
Summary
Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is an important crop that has recently been recognized as a functional food due to its health-promoting properties and nutraceutical components [1] Both the leaves and tuberous roots of sweet potato are consumed, providing carbohydrates, fibers, carotenes, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, minerals, vitamins A and C, and protein [2,3]. Chlorogenic acid is one of the key components in sweet potato tuberous roots and an important factor leading to the quality of sweet potato tuberous roots. This functional compound possesses a wide variety of health-promoting properties, including antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor activities [10,11,12]. Transcriptomic analyses were performed to understand the molecular mechanisms that drive the aforementioned processes, and key genes associated with quality changes were identified
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