TY - JOUR
T1 - Metabolomics analysis of postharvest ripening heterogeneity of 'Hass' avocadoes
AU - Pedreschi, Romina
AU - Muñoz, Pablo
AU - Robledo, Paula
AU - Becerra, Cecilia
AU - Defilippi, Bruno G.
AU - van Eekelen, Henriëtte
AU - Mumm, Roland
AU - Westra, Eelke
AU - De Vos, Ric C.H.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was financially supported by Innova Project 11CEII-9568, and Conicyt/Fondecyt Regular 1130107 Project . RCHdV, HvE and RM acknowledge the Centre for Biosystems Genomics and the Netherlands Metabolomics Centre, which are both part of the Netherlands Genomics Initiative/Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, for additional funding.
PY - 2014/6
Y1 - 2014/6
N2 - The complex physiology of 'Hass' avocado renders its postharvest ripening heterogeneous and unpredictable. Several approaches have previously been undertaken to broaden our understanding of the causes of this postharvest ripening heterogeneity but without much success. In this study, a fruit biopsy methodology was undertaken to sample mesocarp tissue from a series of individual avocado fruit while following individual fruit postharvest ripening characteristics without significantly disturbing their metabolism. Using both targeted and untargeted metabolomics approaches, we analyzed the metabolite profiles of the biopsies in order to get more insight into the biochemical mechanisms underlying 'Hass' avocado ripening heterogeneity. While C7 sugars (mannoheptulose and perseitol), dry matter and total Ca2+ were not correlated with time to reach edible ripeness, untargeted metabolomics profiling of polar and semi-polar compounds (based on GC-MS and LC-MS platforms), revealed several metabolites, mainly amino acids, that were related to ripening heterogeneity. In addition, analysis of fatty acids revealed linoleic acid to be differentially accumulating. In general, slowest ripening avocados had lower amounts of precursors of metabolites involved in key metabolic pathways. Our study indicates that comprehensive metabolomics may provide new markers for avocado ripening stage at harvest, and may give more insight into the complex ripening physiology of this fruit.
AB - The complex physiology of 'Hass' avocado renders its postharvest ripening heterogeneous and unpredictable. Several approaches have previously been undertaken to broaden our understanding of the causes of this postharvest ripening heterogeneity but without much success. In this study, a fruit biopsy methodology was undertaken to sample mesocarp tissue from a series of individual avocado fruit while following individual fruit postharvest ripening characteristics without significantly disturbing their metabolism. Using both targeted and untargeted metabolomics approaches, we analyzed the metabolite profiles of the biopsies in order to get more insight into the biochemical mechanisms underlying 'Hass' avocado ripening heterogeneity. While C7 sugars (mannoheptulose and perseitol), dry matter and total Ca2+ were not correlated with time to reach edible ripeness, untargeted metabolomics profiling of polar and semi-polar compounds (based on GC-MS and LC-MS platforms), revealed several metabolites, mainly amino acids, that were related to ripening heterogeneity. In addition, analysis of fatty acids revealed linoleic acid to be differentially accumulating. In general, slowest ripening avocados had lower amounts of precursors of metabolites involved in key metabolic pathways. Our study indicates that comprehensive metabolomics may provide new markers for avocado ripening stage at harvest, and may give more insight into the complex ripening physiology of this fruit.
KW - Fatty acids
KW - GC-MS
KW - Isoprenoids
KW - LC-MS
KW - Metabolomics
KW - Persea americana
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84894592051&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.postharvbio.2014.01.024
DO - 10.1016/j.postharvbio.2014.01.024
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84894592051
SN - 0925-5214
VL - 92
SP - 172
EP - 179
JO - Postharvest Biology and Technology
JF - Postharvest Biology and Technology
ER -