terclim by ICS banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Melatonin priming retards fungal decay in postharvest table grapes 

Melatonin priming retards fungal decay in postharvest table grapes 

Abstract

Postharvest losses of fruits may reach in some cases 40% in developed countries. This food waste has a significant carbon footprint and makes a major contribution toward greenhouse gas emissions so sustainable postharvest strategies are being investigated.

Melatonin, a well-known mammalian neurohormone, has been investigated as a priming agent to slow down fungal decay progression in postharvest climacteric and some non-climacteric fruits. However, the molecular and metabolic mechanisms responsible for such enhancement of disease tolerance are largely unknown. This work aimed to evaluate the effects of melatonin priming in fungal decay progression in postharvest table grapes (Vitis vinifera L. cv. ‘Red Globe’ and ‘Sugra 48’). Melatonin-treated grapes clearly presented lower levels of fungal decay incidence and symptom severity. DNA sequencing putatively identified three fungal species in postharvest grapes: Penicillium expansum, Penicillium crustosum and Cladosporium cladosporioides. While MDA and total anthocyanin content presented no altered levels due to melatonin treatment, phytoalexins´ profile significantly changed (e.g. trans-resveratrol, trans-piceid). Recent untargeted metabolomics data suggests that phenylpropanoid pathway is being remodelled under melatonin treatment (e.g gallic acid, catechin gallate, specific anthocyanins). RNA extraction and sequencing is being conducted to integrate these metabolic results with molecular data. Altogether, results indicate that melatonin priming leads to an effective response to fungal decay in table grapes by modulating secondary metabolism involved in defense. Ultimately, this work will clarify mechanistic processes regarding this innovative priming agent that may also have a positive impact on nutritional quality of fruits.

DOI:

Publication date: June 14, 2024

Issue: Open GPB 2024

Type: Article

Authors

Maria Paes 1, Florent Weiller1,  Patrícia Pardal1,  Vicent Leclère2, Inês Diniz3, Helena Gaspar1, Aziz Aziz2, Gianmaria Califano1, Ana Margarida Fortes1*

1 BioISI – Biosystems and Integrative Sciences Institute, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Campo Grande 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal
2 University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Induced Resistance and Plant Bioprotection (RIBP), USC INRAE Reims 51100, France
3 Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF), TERRA—Associated Laboratory for the Sustainability of Land Use and Ecosystem Services, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal

Contact the author*

Keywords

melatonin priming, postharvest, table grapes, fungal decay, fruit quality

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Open GPB | Open GPB 2024

Citation

Related articles…

Polyphenols in kombucha: Metabolomic analysis of biotransformations during fermentation

Kombucha is a non-alcoholic beverage made of sugared tea that is transformed by a symbiotic consortium of yeasts and bacteria. This beverage is increasingly produced at industrial scale, but its quality standards remain to be defined. Metabolomics analysis was carried out using FT-ICR-MS to understand the chemical transformations induced by the production phases and the type of tea on

Main viticultural soils in Castilla – La Mancha (Spain)

Castilla-La Mancha is the biggest vineyard in the world. Once similar soils have been identified in Castilla-La Mancha (soil

Corvina and Corvinone grape berries grown in different areas and their aptitude to postharvest dehydration

The Valpolicella area (Veneto Region, Italy) is famous for its high quality wines: Amarone and Recioto, both obtained from partial post-harvest dehydrated red grapes.

Climate ethnography and wine environmental futures

Globalisation and climate change have radically transformed world wine production upsetting the established order of wine ecologies. Ecological risks and the future of traditional agricultural systems are widely debated in anthropology, but very little is understood of the particular challenges posed by climate change to viticulture which is seen by many as the canary in the coalmine of global agriculture. Moreover, wine as a globalised embedded commodity provides a particularly telling example for the study of climate change having already attracted early scientific attention. Studies of climate change in viticulture have focused primarily on the production of systematic models of adaptation and vulnerability, while the human and cultural factors, which are key to adaptation and sustainable futures, are largely missing. Climate experts have been unanimous in recognising the urgent need for a better understanding of the complex dynamics that shape how climate change is experienced and responded to by human systems. Yet this call has not yet been addressed. Climate ethnography, coined by the anthropologist Susan Crate (2011), aims to bridge this growing disjuncture between climate science and everyday life through the exploration of the social meaning of climate change. It seeks to investigate the confrontation of its social salience in different locations and under different environmental guises (Goodman 2018: 340). By understanding how wine producers make sense of the world (and the environment) and act in it, it proposes to focus on the co-production of interdisciplinary knowledge by identifying and foreshadowing problems (Goodman 2018: 342; Goodman & Marshall 2018). It seeks to offer an original, transformative and contrasted perspective to climate change scenarios by investigating human agency -individual or collective- in all its social, political and cultural diversity. An anthropological approach founded on detailed ethnographies of wine production is ideally placed to address economic, social and cultural disruptions caused by the emergence of these new environmental challenges. Indeed, the community of experts in environmental change have recently called for research that will encompass the human dimension and for more broad-based, integrated through interdisciplinarity, useful knowledge (Castree & al 2014). My paper seeks to engage with climate ethnography and discuss what it brings to the study of wine environmental futures while exploring the limitations of the anthropological environmental approach.

Assessment of O2 consumption, a new tool to select bioprotection yeast strains

Reduction of sulfur dioxide during winemaking is a request from the wine industry. To replace sulfur dioxide, various alternatives exist, including bioprotection by yeast inoculation. This practice consists in adding non-Saccharomyces yeasts directly on the grapes or must.