Orange Fruit Research Articles

The role of CitMYC3 in regulation of valencene synthesis-related CsTPS1 and CitAP2.10 in Newhall Sweet Orange

CsTPS1 (Cs5g12900) is a gene encoding a sesquiterpene synthase involved in generating valencene, a key volatile compound in sweet orange fruit. Here, a citrus basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor (CitMYC3), is characterized as a positive regulator of CsTPS1. Dual-luciferase assays showed that CitMYC3 transcriptionally activates its own promoter, also the CsTPS1 promoter and, in addition, the promoter of a second transcription factor, CitAP2.10, which in turn positively regulates the CsTPS1 expression. During the developmental period, CitMYC3 transcripts were detectable at 60 days after full bloom (DAFB) and increased gradually to 120 DAFB, while CsTPS1 mRNA rapidly increased from 90 to 150 DAFB. Exogenous ethylene accelerated the expression of CitMYC3 (peaking at 4 h) before CsTPS1 expression (at 24 h). Furthermore, CitMYC3 and CitAP2.10 were also shown to activate the promoter of Arabidopsis AtTPS11, a homolog of CsTPS1, which is in charge of the synthesis of over fifteen different sesquiterpenes, indicating that CitMYC3 and CitAP2.10 have a likely conserved function in the regulation of sesquiterpene genes across a variety of plant species.

Biological control of green mold in simulated post-harvest chain of citrus Fruit: Efficacy of Candida oleophila strain O and molecular insight into elicitation of host immune system

Managing post-harvest decays in citrus fruit without relying on conventional pesticides presents a significant challenge in modern Plant Pathology. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the biological control agent Candida oleophila strain O in controlling green mold caused by Penicillium digitatum throughout various stages of the post-harvest supply chain. Using a series of in vivo experiments, different scenarios of P. digitatum infections in clementine tangerine, orange, and lemon fruit were examined, with treatments applied before, during or after infection. The study simulated typical conditions of the citrus supply chain, including picking, processing in packinghouses, and transportation, as well as cold storage and shelf-life phases. Results indicated that C. oleophila exhibited significant efficacy in reducing green mold symptoms, even at shelf-life temperatures, making it a practical alternative to conventional fungicides. Additionally, the study provided insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the defensive response of citrus fruit to C. oleophila treatment, with up-regulation of defense-related genes observed across different fruit types. Overall, this study underscores the potential of C. oleophila as a sustainable and effective solution for managing post-harvest decays in citrus fruit within the complexities of the supply chain.

Clarification of the infection pattern of Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri on citrus fruit by artificial inoculation

BackgroundCitrus canker is a significant bacterial disease caused by Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xcc) that severely impedes the healthy development of the citrus industry. Especially when citrus fruit is infected by Xcc, it will reduce or even lost its commercial value. However, due to the prolonged fruiting cycle and intricate structure, much less research progress had been made in canker disease on fruit than on leaf. In fact, limited understanding has been achieved on canker development and the response to Xcc infection in fruit.ResultsHerein, the progression of canker disease on sweet orange fruit was tracked in the field. Results indicated that typical lesions initially appear on the sepal, style residue, nectary disk, epicarp, and peduncle of young fruits after petal fall. The susceptibility of fruits to Xcc infection diminished as the fruit developed, with no new lesions forming at the ripening stage. The establishment of an efficient method for inoculating Xcc on fruit as well as the artificial inoculation throughout the fruit's developmental cycle clarified this infection pattern. Additionally, microscopic observations during the infection process revealed that Xcc invasion caused structural changes on the surface and cross-section of the fruit.ConclusionsAn efficient system for inoculation on citrus fruit with Xcc was established, by which it can serve for the evaluation of citrus germplasm for canker disease resistance and systematic research on the interactions between Xcc and citrus fruits.

Postharvest storage temperature strategies affect anthocyanin levels, total phenolic content, antioxidant activity, chemical attributes of juice, and physical qualities of blood orange fruit

The potential of storing ‘Budd Blood’ blood orange fruit at different temperatures (6, 8, 10, and 12 °C) for 60 days after harvest was investigated to enhance anthocyanin, total phenolic content, antioxidant activity, and to understand temperature effects on other physicochemical attributes. Fruit weight and firmness losses increased during storage, with the lowest losses occurring at 6 °C. Titratable acidity (TA) decreased, and the lowest values were recorded at 10 and 12 °C. Total soluble solids (TSS), TSS/TA, and juice pH increased, with the highest values recorded at 10 and 12 °C. The sucrose content exhibited slight changes while glucose and fructose levels increased during storage, with the highest levels of glucose and fructose observed at 12 °C. Total anthocyanin concentration, the levels of cyanidin-3-glucoside and cyanidin 3-(6″-malonylglucoside), total phenolic content, and total antioxidant activity significantly increased during storage and the highest values were observed at 10 and 12 °C. Total anthocyanin content increased 2950 % at 10 °C and 3000 % at 12 °C. Interestingly, higher temperatures (10 and 12 °C) were more effective in enhancing anthocyanin levels, total phenolic content, and antioxidant activity during storage, while lower temperatures (6 and 8 °C) were more effective in preserving the other physicochemical attributes.

Drinking Orange Juice or Eating Orange Fruit: Which is Better for Glycemic Control?

The consumption of 100% fruit juice has been a subject of controversy due to abundance of free sugars leading to inconsistent dietary guidelines. This study aimed to verify the hypothesis if eating whole fruit scores better than drinking fruit juices in terms of glycemic control. 15 type-2 diabetic patients volunteered from author’s online Diabetes Reversal Program to participate in the observational study. The relative effect of consumption of 300-ml orange FJ and 300-gram whole orange fruit on glycemic control was compared to verify the hypothesis. The findings of the study suggested that the consumption of oranges (whether juiced or eaten whole) is safe and well tolerable for diabetics and does not substantially raise the blood glucose levels in the average diabetic, however, individualized dietary modification would be the optimal practice to achieve desired health outcomes.

Synergistic effect of seaweed extract and boric acid and/or calcium chloride on productivity and physico-chemical properties of Valencia orange.

Many citrus species and cultivars are grown successfully in tropical and subtropical countries, as well as in arid and semi-arid regions with low levels of organic matter and low cation exchange, resulting in lower nutrient uptake by the plant. The essential nutrients needed for citrus flowering and fruit set are limited in winter due to a reduction in transpiration rate, negatively effecting vegetative growth, flowering, yield, and fruit quality. The present investigation was carried out to assess the nutritional status, fruit yield parameters, and fruit quality of Valencia orange trees after foliar spraying of seaweed extract (SW) combined with calcium chloride and boric acid and their combinations in the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 seasons. The treatments were arranged in a split-plot design (three levels spraying seaweed extract × four levels spraying calcium chloride and boric acid and their combinations × four replicates × one tree/replicate). The results indicated that all of the characteristics measured, including leaf chlorophyll, leaf mineral contents, fruit yield parameters, fruit physical properties, and fruit chemical properties, were significantly affected by the foliar spraying of seaweed extract (SW) combined with calcium chloride and boric acid and their combinations. Although all treatments increased the productivity and the physical and chemical properties of Valencia orange fruits compared to the control, a treatment of 10 g/L SW combined with 0.5 g/L boric acid and 1 g/L calcium chloride produced superior results. This ratio of SW, boric acid, and calcium chloride is therefore recommended to enhance productivity and improve the physico-chemical properties of Valencia orange for greater fruit yield.

Evaluation of Bacillus amyloliquefaciensTV‐17C as a potential biocontrol agent for controlling postharvest Penicillium digitatum on orange

AbstractPostharvest diseases in fruits result in significant losses in the agricultural sector. Among these, green mould, caused by Penicillium digitatum, poses a considerable threat to citrus fruits. This study evaluated the potential of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain TV‐17C as a biological control agent for managing green mould in oranges. Various concentrations of TV‐17C in aqueous suspension were applied to naturally infected orange fruits in the packinghouse at two locations (Hatay and Mersin provinces), while the chemical fungicide fludioxonil 230 SC served as a positive control. The application of B. amyloliquefaciens TV‐17C at the dosage of 250 mL 100 L−1 reduced green mould incidence by 90.3% and 89.8% in Hatay and Mersin provinces, respectively. Similarly, fludioxonil 230 SC displayed an efficacy of 91.4% in reducing disease incidence. In summary, this study underscores the potential of B. amyloliquefaciens TV‐17C as an efficient biocontrol agent against green mould in oranges. Moreover, a positive correlation between higher concentrations and enhanced efficacy was evident. These findings hold promise for the adoption of sustainable disease management practices in the postharvest citrus industry.

Detection of Gannan Navel Orange Ripeness in Natural Environment Based on YOLOv5-NMM

In order to achieve fast and accurate detection of Gannan navel orange fruits with different ripeness levels in a natural environment under all-weather scenarios and then to realise automated harvesting of Gannan navel oranges, this paper proposes a YOLOv5-NMM (YOLOv5 with Navel orange Measure Model) object detection model based on the improvement in the original YOLOv5 model. Based on the changes in the phenotypic characteristics of navel oranges and the Chinese national standard GB/T 21488-2008, the maturity of Gannan navel oranges is tested. And it addresses and improves the problems of occlusion, dense distribution, small target size, rainy days, and light changes in the detection of navel orange fruits. Firstly, a new detection head of 160 × 160 feature maps is constructed in the detection layer to improve the multi-scale target detection layer of YOLOv5 and to increase the detection accuracy of the different maturity levels of Gannan navel oranges of small sizes. Secondly, a convolutional block attention module is incorporated in its backbone layer to capture the correlations between features in different dimensions to improve the perceptual ability of the model. Then, the weighted bidirectional feature pyramid network structure is integrated into the Neck layer to improve the fusion efficiency of the network on the feature maps and reduce the amount of computation. Lastly, in order to reduce the loss of the target of the Gannan Navel Orange due to occlusion and overlapping, the detection frame is used to remove redundancy using the Soft-NMS algorithm to remove redundant candidate frames. The results show that the accuracy rate, recall rate, and average accuracy of the improved YOLOv5-NMM model are 93.2%, 89.6%, and 94.2%, respectively, and the number of parameters is only 7.2 M. Compared with the mainstream network models, such as Faster R-CNN, YOLOv3, the original model of YOLOv5, and YOLOv7-tiny, it is superior in terms of the accuracy rate, recall rate, and average accuracy mean, and also performs well in terms of the detection rate and memory occupation. This study shows that the YOLOv5-NMM model can effectively identify and detect the ripeness of Gannan navel oranges in natural environments, which provides an effective exploration of the automated harvesting of Gannan navel orange fruits.

Impact of immature coffee fruits and water addition during spontaneous fermentation process: Chemical composition and sensory profile

BackgroundCoffee fermentation process influences the final coffee composition and the sensory aspects which define the quality of the beverage. In this study, coffee fruits underwent spontaneous self-induced anaerobic fermentation using samples with two percentages of immature fruits in submerged and solid-state processing. The effects on the physicochemical composition and sensory quality of coffees were evaluated. ResultsThe two percentages of immature fruits corresponded to 11.0 and 0.3% of unripe fruits. The percentage of immature fruits significantly altered the initial content of sugars (sucrose, glucose, and fructose), ash, and titratable acidity. The water addition during the fermentative process did not significantly influence final moisture, proteins, citric acid, and propionic acid concentrations. Compared to the solid-state, the submerged process gave rise to coffees with lower concentrations of ethanol, glycerol, ash, lipids, succinic, and acetic acids. Coffee fermented with 0.3% of immature fruits showed higher lactic acid production in submerged fermentation (67.44 mg/g), and higher concentrations of ethanol (42.84 mg/g) and glycerol (1.68 mg/g) in solid-state fermentation. All coffees produced were classified as specialty coffees with a score above 84 points. However, the submerged fermented coffee with 11% immature fruit stood out with notes of caramel, brown sugar, honey, orange, lemon, floral, nut, yellow and red fruits. ConclusionsThis study confirmed that spontaneous fermentation can be used to produce specialty coffees. Differentiation in sensory attributes can be achieved through the addition of water and varying the percentage of green fruits during the fermentation process. Up to 11% of immature fruits did not compromise coffee quality.How to cite: Ferreira LJC, Casé IN, Bertarini PLL, et al. Impact of immature coffee fruits and water addition during spontaneous fermentation process: Chemical composition and sensory profile. Electron J Biotechnol 2024;69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejbt.2024.04.001.

Application of response surface methodology on optimization of textural properties in the development of gelatin-based jelly candy from honey orange (Citrus nobilis) and purple passion fruit (Passiflora edulis Sims)

Jelly candy is a type of confectionery made from a mixture of fruit juices or flavores syrups and gelling agent such as gelatin which produced chewy candy with variety of flavors and shapes. Honey orange and purple passion fruit are both the trademark fruits in North Sumatera. This study examined changes of fruit juice ratio and gelatin concentration toward the gumminess, hardness, chewiness, cohesiveness, springiness and adhesiveness which are textural properties of jelly candy. The test was carried out with the use of texture analyzer. The change of fruit juice ratio and gelatin concentration gives effect to change of gumminess, hardness, chewiness, cohesiveness, springiness and adhesiveness. Optimal fruit juice ratio and gelatin concentration using the response surface methodology (RSM) randomized with central composite design (CCD) occur at ratio of honey orange juice and purple passion fruit of 70 : 30 with a gelatin concentration of 12.923% with the textural properties of gumminess, hardness, chewiness, cohesiveness, springiness and adhesiveness are 508.291 g, 265.736 g, 20.932 mJ, 1.160, 2.696 mm and 0.0000 mJ, respectively.

IJCM_265A: Cellular Consequences of Fruit Juice Metallurgy: A Closer Look at Heavy Metal Influence

Background: The leaching of heavy metals from packaging materials into packed juices can have several adverse effects on the quality and safety of the products and potentially pose health risks to consumers. Objective: The research aimed to investigate the cytotoxic effects of heavy metals specifically vanadium, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury, which are commonly found in packaging materials of marketable fruit juices which are leached into juices itself (orange and mixed fruit juices stored in cans, leak- proof bags, and tetraPaks). Methodology: The study utilized cell lines, namely HepG2 (human liver cancer) and HeK293 (human kidney), to assess the impact of these heavy metals on cellular viability, DNA damage, mitochondrial function, and cell cycle progression. Flow cytometry was used to analyse cell cycle alterations. Results: The MTT assay showcased dose-dependent decrease in cell viability with increasing concentrations of heavy metals. Annexin V Assay determined V, Hg and As had necrotic death pattern while Cd had apoptotic death pattern for both the cell lines in presence of heavy metal digests. Cells treated with heavy metals, and the resulting DNA damage observed to be high after quantified using comet tail length, olive tail movement, and tail moment measurements. Mitochondrial function assays in the presence of heavy metals revealed that increased mitochondrial membrane potential, mitochondrial mass, and reactive oxygen species production. ROS generation assessed to understand the impact of heavy metals on cellular health and oxidative stress. Conclusion: This study shed light on the potential cytotoxic effects of heavy metals found in fruit juices. These findings contribute to our understanding of the potential risks associated with heavy metal exposure from consumer products and emphasize the importance of regulatory measures to ensure food safety and human health.

Design of a multidimensional diet quality score for a global sustainable healthy diet based on plant food variety, intake of animal products and dietary contribution of ultra-processed foods (SUSDIET)

A range of metrics have been developed and used to measure components of dietary patterns (e.g., adequacy, quality, diversity). However, no existing dietary metric simultaneously captures the three key dimensions of sustainable healthy diets recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization: food processing; dietary diversity; and intake of animal products(1). This study aimed to identify indicators of a global sustainable healthy diet and translate these features into a multidimensional diet quality score (SUSDIET). Informed by our scoping review(1), a Delphi method was adopted in the form of a three-round online survey of 13 national and international experts in nutritional epidemiology, environmental health, dietary assessment and/or food and nutrition policy. Surveys were conducted between November 2022 and May 2023. Participants were asked about procedures to establish an operational definition for a global sustainable healthy diet. Based on consensus from global experts, we developed the SUSDIET, a food-based diet quality score incorporating variety of plant foods, intake of animal products, and dietary contribution of ultra-processed foods (the ‘dimensions’). Categories and amounts of foods consumed were informed by the Global Diet Quality Score(2), EAT Lancet Planetary Health(3) and a meta-analysis of the relationship between ultra-processed foods and all-cause mortality(4). The variety of plant foods is measured based on 12 food groups (citrus fruits, deep orange fruits, other fruits, dark green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, deep orange vegetables, other vegetables, legumes, deep orange tubers, nuts and seeds, whole grains, white roots and tubers), animal intake based on 5 food groups (egg, dairy, poultry, fish and seafood, red meat), and ultra-processed foods as one food group. Three categories of consumed amounts (in grams per day) are defined for variety of plant foods and animal intake, scoring as 0, 0.5 or 1. Ultra-processed food consumption is scored as 0 or 1 using ≤10% or >10% of total dietary intake as cut-offs. The components of each dimension are weighted so the three dimensions equally range from 0-5. SUSDIET overall score ranges from 0-15 (up to 5 points per dimension), with a higher score indicating a more healthy and sustainable diet. SUSDIET will be of immediate use for research aiming to assess the impact of diets on both health and environmental sustainability outcomes among the general adult population. This multidimensional diet quality score can also be used to inform and assess the effectiveness of policy actions that promote sustainable healthy diets, including the monitoring and surveillance of diets globally.

Mapping of Leading Fruit Commodities in Malang District

Indonesia's economic development process is significantly influenced by the agricultural sector. The horticulture subsector is a promising industry that significantly contributes to economic development. Fruit commodities have become increasingly essential in the horticulture subsector and are in high demand by the community. This implies that the classification of a commodity as either basic or superior within the fruit sector is mostly determined by its fruit production. Conversely, commodities with lower fruit production are classified as non-base or non-primed within the sector. The objective of this study is to examine the fruit commodities that form the primary sector in Malang Regency, as well as analyse the fruit commodities that do not form the primary sector in Malang Regency. The employed data analysis method is descriptive quantitative. The findings of this study indicate that the primary or dominant fruit commodities in Malang Regency include apples, duku/langsat fruit, bananas, and salak fruit. The non-primary or non-dominant fruit commodities in Malang Regency include avocados, grapes, star fruit, durian fruit, guava fruit, large orange fruit, Siamese orange fruit, mango fruit, mangosteen fruit, passion fruit, jackfruit, pineapple, papaya, rambutan, sapodilla, soursop, and breadfruit.

Orange fruit peels from PDO varieties of Ribera (Sicily, Italy): An insight into the chemistry and bioactivity of volatile and non-volatile secondary metabolites extracted using a microwave-assisted method

Peels of Washington Navel (WAS), Navelina (NAV), and Vaniglia Apireno (VAN) orange fruits from Ribera (Sicily, Italy) represent abundant by-products of the Italian agro-food sector. In this work, volatile (VE) and non-volatile (NVE) extracts were obtained from fresh peels using a microwave-assisted protocol, and were characterized for their content in secondary metabolites and bioactivity. VEs exerted antibacterial activity against different pathogens, and were toxic on Caco2 cells. Their main component was limonene (>85 %). NVEs inhibited tyrosinase, amylase, and glucosidase in vitro, and exerted significant antioxidant effects on THP-1 XBlue cells. They showed also anti-inflammatory properties, by decreasing NF-κB activity in LPS-stimulated cells. Putative molecular effectors were highlighted by multivariate correlation analysis. Overall, NVEs may represent novel sustainable nutraceutical ingredients with anti-inflammatory and metabolic properties, and can be obtained by using eco-sustainable approaches. Our results will encourage the reuse of by-products of the orange processing chain and will contribute to increase its circularity in the future.

Synthesis and suitability characterization of microcrystalline cellulose from Citrus x sinensis sweet orange peel fruit waste-based biomass for polymer composite applications

Synthesis and suitability characterization of microcrystalline cellulose from Citrus x sinensis sweet orange peel fruit waste-based biomass for polymer composite applications

Impact of ripening stages on the physicochemical and antioxidant properties of Monkey orange (Strychnos spinosa) fruit

The Monkey orange (Strychnos spinosa) fruit is a tropical and subtropical African indigenous tree and its name is derived from the fact that monkeys eat the fruits. This study investigated the physicochemical and antioxidant properties of Monkey orange fruit (MOF) at different ripening stages (unripe – green colour, semi-ripe - light yellow colour and fully ripe – yellow colour). Physicochemical properties, bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity of MOF were determined. The results showed that the physical characteristics of MOF such as fruit weight and size, seed weight and pulp weight significantly decreased (p<0.05) with the ripening stages. However, the ripening stages did not affect the seed diameter of the MOF. A significant difference was observed in the L*, a*, b* and Chroma colour properties of MOF at different ripening stages. The Hue angle of semi and fully ripe MOF was not significantly different (p>0.05). Chemical characteristics of MOF such as moisture content, pH, total soluble solids and sugar to acid ratio significantly increased with the ripening stages. However, extractable solids and total titratable acid decreased. Total phenolic and flavonoid contents significantly decreased with the ripening stages varying from 0.844 to 0.356 mg GAE/g and 0.714 to 0.031 mg/g, respectively. Moreover, ascorbic acid content decreased ranging from 128.67 to 73.01 mg/100 g. The antioxidant activity of MOF significantly decreased (p<0.05) during the ripening stages.

Production and antioxidant activity of electrospun polylactic acid (PLA) nanofibrous mats containing naringenin (NAR) for potential wound healing applications

In tissue engineering applications, the use of natural compounds without undesired side effects is highly preferred compared to chemical drugs. Flavonoids, polyphenolic compounds distributed widely in plant-based foods, exert diverse biological effects in cultured cells and in vivo. Flavonoids exhibit anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-mutagenic, anti-cancerous, antiproliferative, and proapoptotic activities, enzyme modulating activities with minimal toxicity issues. Naringenin (4′,5,7-trihydroxyflavanone) (NAR) is a flavonoid belonging to the class flavanone, predominantly found in grape fruit, bitter orange, and other citrus fruits. It has very prominent pharmacological actions like antitumor, vasoprotective, antihypertension, antiviral, and dantishockactions. As NAR can scavenge reactive oxygen species, its use in wound dressing studies is increasing. In recent years, many studies have been carried out to produce nanofibrous materials by the electrospinning method. Electrospun nanofibers have very large surface areas, controllable pore sizes, and tunable drug release profiles. Several biocompatible polymers with excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability including polylactic acid (PLA) have been widely used for the synthesis of nanofibers using the electrospun technique. In this study, nanofibers were obtained by adding NAR at different concentrations into PLA by electrospinning technique. Morphological (Scanning electron microscopy, SEM), molecular interaction (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, FT-IR), thermal analysis (Differential scanning calorimetry, DSC), antioxidant activity, and physical analysis were carried out after the production process. Meanwhile, the PLA nanofibers showed the largest swelling value of 220% after immersion in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) solution for 10 days. Overall, this study demonstrates that our PLA/NAR nanofiber mats are attractive candidates for wound dressing material research and application.

Unhealthy diets increase the likelihood of being overweight or obese among African migrant students in China, but not among African non-migrant students: a cross-sectional study.

The impact of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is disproportionately felt by immigrants from low- to medium-income countries (LMICs), partly due to their dietary habits. To thrive in their new environment, migrants either omit or consume certain food items, which could lead to nutritional deficits. As a result, most migrants experience more NCDs than their compatriots in their native countries. Therefore, we evaluated the difference in dietary habits, quality, and the influencing factors of overweight or obesity among African migrant students in Nanjing (China) and non-migrant students in Africa using cross-sectional data. The researchers used the food frequency questionnaire and the global diet quality score metrics to assess food intake and quality, respectively. Then, cross-tabulation was employed to explore the differences between the groups in meal skipping, eating habits, and diet quality. Finally, the factors associated with overweight or obesity were assessed with binary logistic regression stratified by African students in Nanjing and students in their native countries. Approximately 678 responses were received, mainly between 18-25 years (46.7%) and 26-36 years (45.4 %). The majority of them (52.3%) were international students. The non-migrant African students' diets lacked citrus fruits (22.2%), deep orange fruits (15.4%), deep orange vegetables (18%), cruciferous vegetables (24.6%), and dark leafy vegetables (26.5%). While the African migrant students consumed more high-fat dairy (50.7%), processed meats (23.9%), sweets and ice creams (51.3%), sugar-sweetened beverages (40.5%), and juice (61.5%), p < 0.001. Furthermore, consuming late-night meals constantly [Exp (B) = 39.607, p = 0.049], eating twice a day [Exp (B) = 6.527, p = 0.036], consuming red meat [Exp (B) = 29.287, p = 0.001], processed meats [Exp (B) = 719.979, p = 0.0011], refined grains and baked foods [Exp (B) = 15.752, p = 0.013], and sweets and ice cream [Exp (B) = 193.633, p = 0.006] were factors inducing overweight or obesity among only African migrant students. Controlling the what (Western diet and nature of late-night meals) and the when of eating can drastically reduce their influence on obesogenic condition formation in African migrant students in China and elsewhere.

Transcriptomics and metabolomics reveal the underlying mechanism of drought treatment on anthocyanin accumulation in postharvest blood orange fruit

BackgroundAnthocyanins are the most important compounds for nutritional quality and economic values of blood orange. However, there are few reports on the pre-harvest treatment accelerating the accumulation of anthocyanins in postharvest blood orange fruit. Here, we performed a comparative transcriptome and metabolomics analysis to elucidate the underlying mechanism involved in seasonal drought (SD) treatment during the fruit expansion stage on anthocyanin accumulation in postharvest ‘Tarocco’ blood orange fruit.ResultsOur results showed that SD treatment slowed down the fruit enlargement and increased the sugar accumulation during the fruit development and maturation period. Obviously, under SD treatment, the accumulation of anthocyanin in blood orange fruit during postharvest storage was significantly accelerated and markedly higher than that in CK. Meanwhile, the total flavonoids and phenols content and antioxidant activity in SD treatment fruits were also sensibly increased during postharvest storage. Based on metabolome analysis, we found that substrates required for anthocyanin biosynthesis, such as amino acids and their derivatives, and phenolic acids, had significantly accumulated and were higher in SD treated mature fruits compared with that of CK. Furthermore, according to the results of the transcriptome data and weighted gene coexpression correlation network analysis (WGCNA) analysis, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL3) was considered a key structural gene. The qRT-PCR analysis verified that the PAL3 was highly expressed in SD treated postharvest stored fruits, and was significantly positively correlated with the anthocyanin content. Moreover, we found that other structural genes in the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway were also upregulated under SD treatment, as evidenced by transcriptome data and qRT-PCR analysis.ConclusionsThe findings suggest that SD treatment promotes the accumulation of substrates necessary for anthocyanin biosynthesis during the fruit ripening process, and activates the expression of anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway genes during the postharvest storage period. This is especially true for PAL3, which co-contributed to the rapid accumulation of anthocyanin. The present study provides a theoretical basis for the postharvest quality control and water-saving utilization of blood orange fruit.

Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of the MADS gene family in sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) infested with pathogenic bacteria.

The risk of pathogenic bacterial invasion in plantations has increased dramatically due to high environmental climate change and has seriously affected sweet orange fruit quality. MADS genes allow plants to develop increased resistance, but functional genes for resistance associated with pathogen invasion have rarely been reported. MADS gene expression profiles were analyzed in sweet orange leaves and fruits infested with Lecanicillium psalliotae and Penicillium digitatum, respectively. Eighty-two MADS genes were identified from the sweet orange genome, and they were classified into five prime subfamilies concerning the Arabidopsis MADS gene family, of which the MIKC subfamily could be subdivided into 13 minor subfamilies. Protein structure analysis showed that more than 93% of the MADS protein sequences of the same subfamily between sweet orange and Arabidopsis were very similar in tertiary structure, with only CsMADS8 and AG showing significant differences. The variability of MADS genes protein structures between sweet orange and Arabidopsis subgroups was less than the variabilities of protein structures within species. Chromosomal localization and covariance analysis showed that these genes were unevenly distributed on nine chromosomes, with the most genes on chromosome 9 and the least on chromosome 2, with 36 and two, respectively. Four pairs of tandem and 28 fragmented duplicated genes in the 82 MADS gene sequences were found in sweet oranges. GO (Gene Ontology) functional enrichment and expression pattern analysis showed that the functional gene CsMADS46 was strongly downregulated of sweet orange in response to biotic stress adversity. It is also the first report that plants' MADS genes are involved in the biotic stress responses of sweet oranges. For the first time, L. psalliotae was experimentally confirmed to be the causal agent of sweet orange leaf spot disease, which provides a reference for the research and control of pathogenic L. psalliotae.