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The impact of scald development on phenylpropanoid metabolism based on phenol content, enzyme activity, and gene expression analysis

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Abstract

Although many aspects of scald have been investigated, we are still far away from a general understanding of the disorder. Here, we tried to elucidate the role of the phenolic compounds and their fate during scald development. The study was performed on ‘Granny Smith’ apples. After 5 months in cold storage, scald developed rapidly at room temperature, giving us the opportunity to study unaffected, partly scalded, and fully scalded apple peels. We analyzed the phenolic content, enzyme activity, and gene expression of the flavonoid pathway as well as peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase activity. We demonstrate that scald incidence is mostly dependent on hydroxycinnamic acids, namely, chlorogenic acid and its increased accumulation during scald development, while other phenolic compounds do not seem to be relevant. Expression of genes of the flavonoid pathway was strongly increased during disorder development, whereas a decreased activity of most analyzed flavonoid pathway enzymes was observed. The results presented here help elucidate the role of phenolic content during scald development, which will be useful for future studies of scald development.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge Renate Paltram for her support in RNA preparation and qRT-PCR studies. This work is part of program Horticulture No. P4-0013-0481 funded by the Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS). H. Halbwirth gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) Project number P25399-B16.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, Hacquetova ulica 17, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Anka Cebulj

  2. Institute for Chemical Engineering, Technical University of Vienna, Getreidemarkt 9/1665, 1060, Vienna, Austria

    Heidi Halbwirth

  3. Chair for Fruit, Vine and Vegetable Growing, Department of Agronomy, University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Maja Mikulic-Petkovsek, Robert Veberic & Ana Slatnar

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  1. Anka Cebulj
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  2. Heidi Halbwirth
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  3. Maja Mikulic-Petkovsek
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  4. Robert Veberic
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  5. Ana Slatnar
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Contributions

A.C.—experiment execution, extraction and analyses of phenolic content, POX and PPO activity determination, statistical analysis, writing of the manuscript. H.H.—results review and comment (analyzes of enzyme activity and analysis of gene expression), manuscript supervisor. M.M-P.—MS analyses. R.V.—mentor, the experiment initiator and manuscript supervisor. A.S.—determination and analysis of enzyme activity, analysis of gene expression, statistical analysis, manuscript corrections statement.

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Correspondence to Anka Cebulj.

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Communicated by Eun Jin Lee, Ph.D.

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Cebulj, A., Halbwirth, H., Mikulic-Petkovsek, M. et al. The impact of scald development on phenylpropanoid metabolism based on phenol content, enzyme activity, and gene expression analysis. Hortic. Environ. Biotechnol. 61, 849–858 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13580-020-00268-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13580-020-00268-0

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