Abstract
Storage and maintenance of horticultural products in optimal conditions for a reasonable period, once they have been harvested is a technological challenge. Diverse methods are generally used, i.e., low temperature but, in many cases, it may provoke undesirable collateral effects such as softening or promoting pathogens infections, thus causing their deterioration. Nitric oxide (·NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) are compounds generated endogenously by plants with signaling properties that mediate fruit development and ripening. Additionally, when these molecules are applied exogenously, they can provide benefits such as maintaining the quality of horticultural products and even prolonging their shelf-life once they are stored. This review provides a broad perspective of ·NO and H2S metabolism in plant cells and, in addition, different plant models are described of how the exogenous application of either NO or H2S to horticultural products preserves nutritional quality during postharvest storage.
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Introduction
In the agricultural sector, from the time the seed sapling is planted until the harvest of the corresponding products, numerous factors can affect the proper development and productivity of crops. The whole process requires great effort and planning to safeguard the quality of the vegetables and fruits against different types of environmental stress (extreme temperature, drought, flooding, pathogens, etc.). Furthermore, after their harvest, preserving the quality of vegetables and fruits is also one of the key stages that connect the agricultural productive sector with the industrial one considering that storage and distribution may be achieved either locally, nationally, or internationally.
From the point of view of consumers, the quality of fruits and vegetables includes external features such as color, firmness, size, and shape but also other sensorial properties including aroma and taste (flavor). All these parameters influence the consumers’ decision to purchase specific products. Therefore, all the participants involved in each step should care about how specific horticultural products reach the consumers. Different agents can cause the deterioration of fruits and vegetables such as softening, water loss, or microbial decay triggered but bacteria, fungi, viruses, or yeasts. However, many of these effects are due to an uncontrolled overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can cause oxidative stress (Lum et al. 2016; Decros et al. 2019). All these factors will influence the storage conditions. For these reasons, postharvest technology procedures acquire great relevance since they have the goal of providing optimal storage conditions to preserve the properties of horticultural products (Ziv and Fallik 2021). Thus, the products can reach the consumer in optimal nutritional conditions thus avoiding the economic losses that may occur.
At present, there are several strategies for storing fruit and vegetables mostly consisting of keeping them under controlled atmospheres. Thus, the normal air atmosphere is replaced by an atmosphere poor in oxygen (O2) but rich in carbon dioxide (CO2). For example, when pears and apples are under 1–3% O2 and 1–3% CO2, their storage is usually extended for three months (Wang et al. 2021). This procedure is usually combined with low temperatures (Majidi et al. 2014; Fang and Wakisaka 2021; Dong et al. 2022). However, the storage conditions must be optimized for each type of horticultural product, and in the case of fruits, another consideration to keep in mind is whether the fruit is climacteric because, in such a case, the levels of ethylene must be reduced (Cocetta and Natalini 2022). Heat treatment of fruits and vegetables has also been used to maintain the quality attributes during postharvest storage (Yang et al. 2021; Yi et al. 2021; Dai et al. 2021). Currently, other complementary options are being studied consisting of covering horticultural products with edible coatings that protect them from adverse external factors and that allow their shelf-life to be extended (Tavassoli-Kafrani et al. 2020; Rangaraj et al. 2021; Nian et al. 2022; Yadav et al. 2022). There are other strategies to preserve the quality fruit and vegetable during postharvest which include physical treatments (Usall et al. 2016; Palumbo et al. 2022) such as microwave (Martínez-Hernández et al. 2016), pulsed electric-field (López-Gámez et al. 2021), high hydrostatic pressure treatment (Ramos-Parra et al. 2019), and dipping and vacuum impregnation, for example, with calcium salts, pectin methylesterase, or citric acid (Yan et al. 2021).
Nitric oxide (·NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) are two gasotransmitters that are endogenously generated in plant cells exerting multiple functions from seed germination, root formation, growth and development, leaf senescence, flowering, and fruit ripening (Zhang et al.,2014; Ziogas et al.,2018; Corpas et al. 2019; Mishra et al., 2021; Li et al. 2022; He et al. 2023). However, experimental evidence has shown that when ·NO and H2S, either individually or in combination, are exogenously applied, they can alleviate or preserve the quality of the horticultural products against negative damage to plants during different types of environmental stress, both biotic and abiotic (Siddiqui et al. 2023; Gupta and Seth 2023; Prajapati et al. 2023). This review aims to provide an outline of ·NO and H2S metabolism in higher plants, the main available donors of these molecules, and their use in horticultural products (fruits and vegetables) as an alternative to extending their shelf-life during postharvest storage.
Overview of Endogenous Metabolism of ·NO and H2S in Higher Plants
The first reports on the emissions and presence of ·NO in higher plants in the late 1970s and mid-1980s (Klepper 1979, 1987; Dean and Harper 1986) were received with some skepticism among plant researchers because this molecule was considered toxic as part of atmospheric pollution and the greenhouse effect. However, the significance of this molecule acquired more and more relevance due to its regulatory functions in numerous physiological processes, including seed germination, root formation and development, growth, stomatal closure, senescence, flowering, and fruit ripening, but also in the mechanisms of response against biotic and abiotic stresses (Leshem et al. 1998; Leshem and Pinchasov 2000; Corpas et al. 2011; Xuan et al.,2012; Kolbert et al. 2019).
Nitric oxide has a family of derived molecules designated as reactive nitrogen species (RNS) such as peroxynitrite (ONOO−), S-nitrosothiols (SNOs) like S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO), nitrogen dioxide (·NO2), nitroxyl (HNO), nitro-γ-tocopherol, and so on (Kolbert et al. 2019; Arasimowicz-Jelonek et al. 2023). Although the endogenous source responsible for the enzymatic generation of ·NO is still under debate in plants, there are currently two recognized possible sources of ·NO, nitrate reductase (NR) and an l-arginine-dependent ·NO synthase-like activity (Mohn et al. 2019; Corpas et al. 2022a). Additionally, another key enzyme involved in NO metabolism is S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR) which catalyzes the NADH-dependent reduction of GSNO to GSSG and NH3 (Sakamoto et al. 2002; Leterrier et al. 2011). Thus, this enzyme can module the trans-nitrosation equilibrium between GSNO and S-nitrosated proteins and consequently participates in the cellular homeostasis of RNS (Lee et al. 2008; García et al. 2018; Treffon et al. 2021) as well as hormone homeostasis (Romera et al. 2023; Zuccarelli et al. 2023). However, among the mechanisms that allow the RNS to exert their signaling function are those that imply post-translational modifications (PTMs) of proteins, mainly S-nitrosation, tyrosine nitration, and metal nitrosylation (Asgher et al. 2017; Gupta et al. 2020), as well as the regulation of gene expression throughout the transcription factors (TFs), or probably by epigenetic events such as DNA methylation or histone modification.
In the mid-90s, it was described that animal cells were available to generate hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a molecule considered toxic for living organisms, which later showed to have signaling properties in the neuronal system (Abe and Kimura 1996). Afterward, it was observed that plant cells were also capable of generating H2S as part of the sulfate assimilation pathway and in the cysteine metabolism (Fuentes-Lara et al. 2019; González-Gordo et al. 2020). Currently, several enzymes with the capacity to generate H2S located in the different subcellular compartments have been identified. These include the chloroplastic sulfite reductase (SiR), the cytosolic l-cysteine desulfhydrase (LCD) and cysteine synthase (OASA 1), and the mitochondrial d-cysteine desulfhydrase (DDC) and cyanoalanine synthase (CAS) (Asada 1967; Álvarez et al. 2012; Hu et al. 2021a, b; Muñoz-Vargas et al. 2023a, b).
Like ·NO, H2S can also modulate protein function through a PTM called persulfidation in which a thiol (-SH) group of cysteine residues interacts with H2S and is then converted into the corresponding persulfide (-SSH) (Aroca et al. 2015; Corpas et al. 2021; Vignane and Filipovic 2023). Figure 1 provides a simple working model showing the enzymatic components involved in the generation of ·NO and H2S in plant cells.
Main enzymatic components involved in the generation of ·NO and H2S generation in plant cells. CAS, cyanoalanine synthase. CS, cysteine synthase. DCD, D-cysteine desulfhydrase. GSH, reduced glutathione. GSSG, glutathione disulfide. GSNO, S-nitrosoglutathione. GSNOR, GSNO reductase. LCD, L-cysteine desulfhydrase. PTMs, post-translational modifications. NiR, nitrite reductase. NOS-like, L-arginine-dependent NO synthase-like activity. NR, nitrate reductase. OAS, O-acetylserine. SiR, sulfite reductase
Remarkably, the cysteine residues of some specific proteins could be targets of both molecules and, in fact, ·NO and H2S compete in the modulation of these target proteins and the final effect is the result of the balance of their relative abundance around the target protein and their subcellular location (Corpas et al. 2022b). Some of the most notable examples of this regulation are some antioxidant enzymes that regulate the ROS metabolism such as catalase (Palma et al. 2020) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) (Begara-Morales et al. 2014a, b; Aroca et al. 2015). Likewise, other enzymes such as the NADPH oxidase also designated as respiratory burst oxidase homologs (RBOHs) directly involved in the generation of superoxide radicals (O2·−), as well as enzymes involved in ·NO/H2S metabolism such as S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR) or the H2S-generating l-cysteine desulfhydrase are also targets of S-nitrosation and persulfidation (Yun et al. 2011; Guerra et al. 2016; Shen et al. 2020), as well as tyrosine nitration (Muñoz-Vargas et al. 2023b). All these data indicate the close relationship between the metabolism of ·NO, H2S, and ROS, since key enzymes involved in the metabolism of all these molecules are regulated among themselves, which creates a complex signaling network that affects numerous biological processes from the germination, development, senescence, and to fruit ripening.
Biochemistry of ·NO and H2S
Besides the protein PTMs mediated by ·NO and H2S, another lesser-known aspect is the biochemical reactions resulting from the own chemistry and interactions between both molecules and ROS. Thus, the protonated product of the one-electron reduction of ·NO generates nitroxyl (HNO), also designated as azanone, which has specific biological effects in animal cells (Fukuto and Carrington 2011; Fukuto et al. 2013). This issue has been unexplored in plants until very recently, where it has been involved in the cellular redox balance under senescence and hypoxia conditions (Arasimowicz-Jelonek et al. 2023).
Likewise, peroxynitrite (ONOO−) is the product of the chemical interaction between ·NO and O2·−. This reaction is very fast, with a second-order rate constant (k) of approximately 4–6 × 109 M−1 s−1 (Goldstein and Czapski 1995) which is even greater than that of many enzymatic reactions. The relevance of this molecule is its great reactivity with macromolecules including proteins, fatty acids, and nucleic acids exerting its immediate oxidizing/nitrating action, thus promoting the formation of nitrated proteins (Bartesaghi and Radi 2018; Corpas et al. 2021; Piacenza et al. 2022), nitrated fatty acids (Mata-Pérez et al. 2016), and nitroguanine in nucleic acids (Niles et al. 2006). Nitric oxide can also interact with reduced glutathione (GSH) to generate S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO), a cellular ·NO reservoir with the capacity to mediate the process of trans-nitrosation (Corpas et al. 2013; Broniowska et al. 2013). Figure 2 displays some of the reactions where ·NO is involved.
Some chemical reactions involving nitric oxide (·NO) and H2S that generate different derived molecules such as peroxynitrite, nitroxyl, nitrosoglutathione, glutathione (Glu-Cys-Gly) persulfide, and the thionitrous acid
H2S is a weak acid and can be dissociated into hydrosulfide (HS–) and sulfide (S2–) anions in an aqueous solution. At physiological conditions, approximately 20% of H2S exists in the not dissociated form, and the rest is dissociated into HS– and H+, the amount of sulfide anion (S2−) being very low at physiological pH (Fig. 2). H2S can mediate the generation of persulfides (RSSH) through the interaction with either (i) oxidized thiol derivatives such as disulfides (RSSR′), sulfenic acid (RSOH) or (ii) oxidized sulfur derivatives such as polysulfides (HSnS-, n ≥ 1) (Filipovic et al. 2018; Ogata et al. 2023; Kasamatsu et al. 2023). Thus, H2S can react with GSH to generate glutathione persulfide (GSSH) (Benchoam et al. 2020). On the other hand, the chemical interaction between H2S and ·NO can produce thionitrous acid (HSNO) which is the smallest S-nitrosothiol (Marcolongo et al. 2019). It should be mentioned that in plants, the information about the function of this molecule is, to the best of our knowledge, inexistent due to the difficulty to detect it. Recently, a novel fluorescent probe (SNP-1) has been described for the detection of HSNO in animal cells in vivo (Zhang et al. 2022), which opens an opportunity to investigate this topic in plants. Figure 2 shows some of these reactions. Despite being molecules with a simple structure, their biochemistry is not straightforward since different intermediary molecules are involved, and due to their reactivity, they are difficult to identify and quantify at the cellular level.
NO and H2S Donors used in Animal and Plant Research
The battery of compounds capable of releasing ·NO or H2S is significant and continues to grow, mainly due to their use in the area of medicine for the treatment of numerous pathologies as both molecules mediate relevant functions in multiple systems including the circulatory, nervous, and immune systems (Burgaud et al. 2002; Corvino et al. 2021). The pharmaceutical industry is still working on developing new compounds that might be the most suitable for each type of pathology (Huang et al. 2023; Powell et al. 2018; Iciek et al. 2023) including the development of releasing nanoparticles (Hu et al. 2021a, b; Liu et al. 2023a, b). Table 1 summarizes some of the most representative used donors for ·NO and H2S. In the case of H2S, there are natural sources such as garlic or onion and other members of the genus Allium (Powell et al. 2018; Muñoz-Vargas et al. 2023a; Wen et al. 2023).
NONOate has the general chemical formula R1R2N–(NO−)–N = O, where R1 and R2 correspond to alkyl groups, and it can release two molecules of ·NO (Horton and Schiefer 2019). These compounds are relatively stable in alkaline solution (pH 8.0) and, usually, they will release ·NO in a controlled way (Fig. 3). On the other hand, S-nitrosothiols (SNOs) are compounds that enclose a nitroso group (–NO) attached to the S-atom of a thiol group. SNOs release one molecule of ·NO and they are more stable under different conditions such as high temperature, metal ions, UV light, or enzymes. GSNO is considered the most physiological SNO that can mediate trans-nitrosation processes (Corpas et al. 2013; Jedelská et al. 2021). More recently, ·NO-releasing nanomaterials, for example, ·NO donors linked to chitosan, have been used in plant research (Murgia et al. 2004; Begara-Morales et al. 2014a, b; Silveira et al. 2019; Muñoz-Vargas et al. 2020; Seabra et al. 2022). However, the most commonly used ·NO donor has been sodium nitroprusside (SNP) because it is the cheapest and most handling one. Nevertheless, several concerns must be considered when the SNP is applied such as pH, temperature, and light conditions. SNP is a sodium salt consisting of iron complexed with five cyanide anions (Fig. 3). A concentration of 30 μM SNP (at 37 °C) releases ·NO in a pH-dependent manner. Thus, SNP at pH 5.0 releases the greatest quantity of ·NO which is significantly decreased at pH 7.2; nevertheless, in the acid solution and under light conditions for a few hours, SNP is decomposed producing blue smog and a cyanide odor. Moreover, SNP in an aqueous solution is degraded when exposed to white or blue light but not to red light (Grossi and D’Angelo 2005).
Chemical structures of some representative donors of ·NO (NONOate and SNP) and H2S (NaHS and 5a [N-(Benzoylthio)benzamide]) and mechanism for their release
Among the H2S donors, the most used in plant research is sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS). In an aqueous solution, this compound dissociates into Na+ and HS−, and then, this latter binds partially to H+ to form undissociated H2S. On the other hand, other compounds such as polysulfides (Fukuto et al. 2018; Sawa et al. 2022), GYY4137 (Li et al. 2009), and other chemical donors (Zhao et al. 2011a, b), designated sulfobiotics-H2S donors 5a, 8ℓ, and 8o (Table 1; Dojindo Laboratories, Kumamoto, Japan), have been used mainly in medical research, although there are also some reports in plants (Yamasaki et al. 2019). A characteristic of this group of reagents (5a, 8ℓ, and 8o) is that the release of H2S is by reaction with molecules containing thiol groups (Fig. 3).
It should be mentioned that nitrite (NO2−) and sulfite (SO32−) are part of the endogenous metabolism of ·NO and H2S in plant cells (Corpas et al. 2022a; González-Gordo et al. 2020), but they are not used as direct donors of these gas transmitters. In fact, NaNO2 and Na2SO3 have been used for food preservation (designated E250 and E221, respectively) but, at present, their use is limited or even forbidden due to collateral health problems (Chazelas et al. 2022; Liu et al. 2021). Thus, Na2SO3 was used for raw fruits and vegetable preservation but, in the mid-80s, the US Food and Drug Administration forbade its use.
In summary and as has been mentioned previously, in the area of plant physiology, some of these donors are used mainly in research through either experiments in the laboratory or at the field level, seeking a balance between the quantity needed and their cost. Thus, for larger-scale treatment of plants, the most widely used are SNP for ·NO, and NaHS for H2S, since they are the cheapest ones and the easiest to use.
NO, H2S and Postharvest Storage of Horticultural Products
Once fruits and vegetables are harvested and are not consumed immediately, they must be stored until they reach the consumers. The shelf-life of each product, in which it maintains its good properties, varies significantly among species and, during postharvest storage, a wide of symptoms begins to appear (Aghdam et al.,2020; Brizzolara et al. 2020), either due to the senescence process itself, infections provoked by different pathogens (fungi, bacteria, or viruses), or the storage conditions, for example, at low temperatures.
Accumulating experimental data demonstrates that exogenous treatment with ·NO and H2S has become a new and complementary tool to delay leaf and fruit senescence and consequently extends the shelf-life of products during postharvest storage (Chen and Zhu et al.,2023; Zhu et al. 2022; Wang et al. 2022a, b, c, d). But also, both gases can improve the nutritional quality of horticultural crops (Huo et al. 2018; Zhong et al. 2021), palliate chilling injuries, and prevent fungal infection (Zhang et al. 2019). Although the concentration and application way of these molecules must be optimized for each horticultural product, generally these gasotransmitters can exert regulatory functions at different levels including the increase of the ROS metabolism through an enhancement of enzymatic antioxidant systems including catalase, superoxide dismutase isozymes, ascorbate peroxidase (APX), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR), monodehydroascorbate peroxidase (MDAR), and glutathione reductase (GR), these last four enzymes being components of the ascorbate–glutathione cycle. Furthermore, there is an increase in non-enzymatic antioxidants such as ascorbic acid (AsA), glutathione (GSH), melatonin, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and other compounds of the phenylpropanoids’ group (Rodríguez-Ruiz et al. 2017a; Li et al. 2017; Zhang et al. 2020; Deng et al. 2021; Zuccarelli et al. 2021, 2023). All these antioxidants provide greater protection during storage but also contribute to a higher nutritional value since antioxidants have associated beneficial health effects.
Throughout the fruit ripening of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), a model of non-climacteric fruit, it has been shown the relevance of the ROS metabolism and part of its interaction with ·NO and H2S (Corpas et al. 2023). Thus, it was found an increase in lipid peroxidation and O2·−-generating RBOH activity (Chu-Puga et al. 2019), which was associated with an increase in the content of nitrated and S-nitrosated proteins (Chaki et al. 2015); this latter one connected with a lower GSNOR activity and protein expression (Rodríguez-Ruiz et al. 2017b), where catalase is a key target of these ·NO-mediated PTMs (Palma et al. 2020). These data support that the ripening of pepper fruit has a very active nitro-oxidative metabolism. Furthermore, the application of exogenous ·NO gas (5 ppm for 1 h) during the pepper fruit ripening caused a delay in this process that is accompanied by a significant increase (40%) in the AsA content. The analysis of the AsA biosynthesis pathway confirmed an increase in the activity and gene expression of the galactono-1,4-lactone dehydrogenase (GalLDH), a mitochondrial enzyme that catalyzes the final step of AsA production, involving the oxidation of L-galactono-1,4-lactone to AsA (Rodríguez-Ruiz et al. 2017a).
Lipoxygenases (LOXs) and small heat shock proteins (sHSP) play significant functions in plant development and stress response. The LOX analyses during pepper fruit ripening allowed identifying a total of eight LOX genes whose expression was differentially regulated during ripening and by the treatment with ·NO gas (González-Gordo et al. 2022a, b). Complementarily, the analysis of the sHSP system indicated the presence of 19 sHSP genes in pepper fruits, where the ·NO treatment triggered the upregulation of 7 sHSP genes and the downregulation of 3 sHSP genes (González-Gordo et al. 2023). Furthermore, the analysis of the H2S metabolism showed that it was also modulated. Thus, the H2S-generating l-cysteine desulfhydrase (LCD) and d-cysteine desulfhydrase (DCD) activities were down-regulated during pepper ripening, but this effect was reverted after ·NO treatment of fruits (Muñoz-Vargas et al. 2023b). Similarly, in the climacteric goji berry (Lycium barbarum L.) fruit, experimental data support the beneficial effect of the exogenous applications of ·NO and H2S. Thus, after NaHS treatment, the senescence of goji berry fruits was delayed, whereas the postharvest quality improved. This was due to a modulation of the ROS metabolism since the content of H2O2, O2·−, and lipid peroxidation was diminished, whereas the activity and gene expression of catalase, SOD, APX, and GR were increased. At the same time, the gene expression of LOX and RBOH was down-regulated (Wang et al. 2023). Similar observations have been found with the exogenous application of SNP as an ·NO donor (Elam et al. 2022). All these data support the metabolic relationship among the metabolisms of ·NO, H2S, and ROS.
Although the available information is still very limited, the couple ·NO/H2S can also modulate the gene expression by affecting either promoters, cis-acting regulatory elements, or epigenetic factors such as DNA methylation, chromatin remodeling, histone methylation/demethylation, and acetylation (Kuang et al. 2012; Mengel et al. 2017; Hao et al. 2020). Thus, the analysis of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum cv. Lichun) fruit pretreated with the ·NO donor SNP and then stored at 2 °C indicates that the ·NO reduces the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) and ion leakage, representative markers of lipid peroxidation, and stability of the cell membrane, respectively. Furthermore, it was found that the transcription factor C-repeat/dehydration-responsive element (CRT/DRE)-binding factor (CBF), which participates in the mechanism of response against low temperature, had higher expression levels in fruit treated with ·NO (Zhao et al. 2011a, b). Similarly, in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), the exogenous application of 200 μM SNP mitigates the damage associated with low temperature (10 °C during the day and 6 °C at night). Among the effects exerted by ·NO, it has been reported that it reduces the chilling damage index, the MDA content, and alters the expression of genes related to the metabolism of phenylalanine, lignin synthesis, and hormones such as ethylene and salicylic acid. Furthermore, it was found that two transcription factors, HD-ZIP (Homeodomain leucine zipper) and b-ZIP (basic region/leucine zipper motif), responded to exogenous ·NO under low-temperature stress (Wu et al. 2022).
Recently, the exogenous application of 0.1 mM NaHS in grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) berry triggered their color change, particularly by the anthocyanin accumulation. A deeper analysis at the molecular and biochemical level revealed an increase in the expression of the transcription factor WRKY30, which, at the same time, promotes the increase in the expression of SiR (sulfite reductase) that encoded an enzyme involved in the H2S generation. Furthermore, these genes mediate the upregulation of the expression of genes involved in anthocyanin synthesis (Liu et al. 2023a, b).
Table 2 and Table 3 summarize the main effect of exogenous ·NO and H2S, respectively, on some representative examples of horticultural crops including vegetables, and fruits of herbaceous plants and trees, either climacteric or non-climacteric fruits.
Figure 4 illustrates a working model indicating the mechanism of action after the exogenous application of ·NO or H2S which would act directly on the activities of specific protein targets through the different PTMs or through the expression of genes that code for target proteins, either by transcription factors (TFs) or by epigenetic processes. In this cascade of signals, ROS metabolism is significantly affected and in general is characterized by an increase in enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant systems, thus allowing to palliate possible oxidative damage to macromolecules. The final beneficial effects depend on the horticultural product and they could include delay of fruit senescence, shelf-life extension, and improvement of the nutritional quality, palliate chilling injury, and/or prevent fungal infection.
Model of the cascade of events triggered by the exogenous application of ·NO and H2S in horticultural products through the modulation of proteins and genes that modify the metabolism of reactive oxygen species (ROS), thus alleviating the possible damages associated with the postharvest storage. GSH, glutathione. PTMs, post-translational modifications. SOD, superoxide dismutase. TFs, transcription factors
Conclusion and Future Perspectives
There are currently different compounds that are being studied because they provide beneficial effects on horticultural products such as melatonin (Zhang et al. 2020; Aghdam et al. 2023; Corpas et al. 2022a, b, c), chitosan (Mahmoudi et al. 2022), silicon (Peris-Felipo et al. 2020; Tripathi et al. 2021, 2023), nanoparticles (Seabra et al. 2022; Zhou et al. 2022), and edible coatings (Tavassoli-Kafrani et al. 2020), among other. NO and H2S have become good candidates, either alone or in combinations, for exogenous treatments. These signaling gas molecules should be greatly considered, since they can help to preserve the quality of horticultural products as well as to expand the self-life during storage, mainly through the stimulation and the homeostasis of the ROS and the antioxidant metabolisms. To our knowledge, the exogenous application of either ·NO or H2S has only been carried out at the research level and, although there are still many aspects that have to be investigated at the biochemical level to determine how they exert their beneficial effects, the reality is that, to the best of our knowledge, there is no application in the horticultural industry that has used these molecules. Therefore, one of the aspects that should be explored at the agro-industrial level is that for a given horticultural crop, the type of donor to be used, concentration, and exposure time must be optimized to corroborate its beneficial effects. Although we must be aware of the difficulties of transferring the information obtained in the laboratories to its possible application at the industry level, we hope that what is mentioned in this review can contribute modestly to cover this gap soon.
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Our research is supported by a European Regional Development Fund cofinanced grants from the Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-103924GB-I00 and CPP2021-008703) and Junta de Andalucía (P18-274 FR-1359), Spain.
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Corpas, F.J., Muñoz-Vargas, M.A., González-Gordo, S. et al. Nitric Oxide (NO) and Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S): New Potential Biotechnological Tools for Postharvest Storage of Horticultural Crops. J Plant Growth Regul (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-023-11150-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-023-11150-5