Abstract
Browning seriously affects the quality of fresh-cut fruits, and its mechanism was thought to be polyphenol oxidase (PPO) in the past. A way of non-different PPO browning was found in our previous studies. However, the landscape of this browning way is still unclear in “Fuji” apples. Multi-omics (methylomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics) methods were performed to the global profiles of DNA methylation and gene and protein expression. We employed two natural bud mutation varieties of apple as materials and found a positive correlation between browning index (BI) and methylation (5mC%, MdCMT3, and MdCMT3c) and a negative correlation between BI and demethylation (MdROS1 and MdDME). DNA methylation inhibitor 5-azacytidine can delay apple browning. Further analysis showed that methylated-NCA1 and OMT1 increased significantly in apple browning. Methylated-NCA1 might inhibit NCA1 gene expression and resulted in the decline of catalase activity, thereafter significantly increased apple browning. These findings insight into a new pathway and landscape that DNA hypermethylation significantly accelerated the browning in “Fuji” apple.
Highlights
Apple is one of the favorite fruits of mankind and originated in China [1, 2]
We proposed that methylated-NCA1 might inhibit to NCA1 and resulted in the decline of catalase (CAT) activity, thereafter significantly increasing apple browning
The two types of apples had the same growth environment and genetic background, and this browning difference might be related to DNA methylation in epigenetics. 5′-Aza can delay the non-different PPO browning
Summary
Apple is one of the favorite fruits of mankind and originated in China [1, 2]. Apples have high nutritional value and help to improve human health [3]. With the increasing demand for fresh, healthy, convenient, and nutritious fruits by consumers, fresh-cut fruits have gradually become a new aspect with the fastest development in the food industry [4]. The storage problem of fresh-cut fruits is very serious mainly due to excessive tissue browning. Flavor, and nutritional value which causes significant economic losses [5]. It is of great value for improving the quality of fruit that uncover the reasons and mechanisms of apple browning
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