Effect of Nitric Oxide Treatment on Storage Quality of Glorious Oranges

AbstractEffect of nitric oxide (NO) treatment on storage quality and disease resistance of Glorious oranges was investigated in the experiment. The results showed that NO treatment could effectively reduce disease incidence inoculated with Collletotichum goeosporioides Penz and inhibit the increase of lesion diameter of Glorious oranges during storage. Compared with the control, NO treatment kept higher level of titritable acidity (TA), soluble protein, ascorbic acid (ASA) and reducing sugar, and lower level of weight lose rate and soluble solid concentration (SSC), retarding ripening of fruits

Control of Citrus Post-harvest Green Molds, Blue Molds, and Sour Rot by the Cecropin A-Melittin Hybrid Peptide BP21

In this study, the activity of the cecropin A-melittin hybrid peptide BP21 (Ac-FKLFKKILKVL-NH2) in controlling of citrus post-harvest green and blue molds and sour rot and its involved mechanism was studied. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of BP21 against Penicillium digitatum, Penicillium italicum, and Geotrichum candidum were 8, 8, and 4 μmol L-1, respectively. BP21 could inhibit the growth of mycelia, the scanning electron microscopy results clearly showed that the mycelia treated with BP21 shrank, formed a rough surface, became distorted and collapsed. Fluorescent staining with SYTOX Green (SG) indicated that BP21 could disintegrate membranes. Membrane permeability parameters, including extracellular conductivity, the leakage of potassium ions, and the release of cellular constituents, visibly increased as the BP21 concentration increased. Gross and irreversible damage to the cytoplasm and membranes was observed. There was a positive correlation between hemolytic activity and the concentration of BP21. These results suggest peptide BP21 could be used to control citrus post-harvest diseases

Transcriptome analysis of the hepatopancreas from the Litopenaeus vannamei infected with different flagellum types of Vibrio alginolyticus strains

Vibrio alginolyticus, one of the prevalently harmful Vibrio species found in the ocean, causes significant economic damage in the shrimp farming industry. Its flagellum serves as a crucial virulence factor in the invasion of host organisms. However, the processes of bacteria flagella recognition and activation of the downstream immune system in shrimp remain unclear. To enhance comprehension of this, a ΔflhG strain was created by in-frame deletion of the flhG gene in V. alginolyticus strain HN08155. Then we utilized the transcriptome analysis to examine the different immune responses in Litopenaeus vannamei hepatopancreas after being infected with the wild type and the mutant strains. The results showed that the ΔflhG strain, unlike the wild type, lost its ability to regulate flagella numbers negatively and displayed multiple flagella. When infected with the hyperflagella-type strain, the RNA-seq revealed the upregulation of several immune-related genes in the shrimp hepatopancreas. Notably, two C-type lectins (CTLs), namely galactose-specific lectin nattectin and macrophage mannose receptor 1, and the TNF receptor-associated factor (TRAF) 6 gene were upregulated significantly. These findings suggested that C-type lectins were potentially involved in flagella recognition in shrimp and the immune system was activated through the TRAF6 pathway after flagella detection by CTLs

Combustion Turbulence Flow in Trapped Vortex Combustor with Guide Vane and Blunt Body

Numerical calculation was conducted to obtain the optimum structure parameters of the trapped vortex combustor (TVC) with the guide vane and blunt body. The results show that the optimum structure parameters of the guide vane are a/Hf=0.5, b/Li=0.2, and c/L=0.1, and the optimum structure parameters of blunt body are S/L=0.7, L2/L=0.1, and L1/Li=0.25. Then, the influence of different inlet conditions on the combustion turbulence flow was studied. The results show that high inlet temperature and low inlet velocity can effectively reduce total pressure loss; the equivalence ratio has little effect on total pressure loss. The study of unsteady flow shows that double vortices undergo the process of preliminarily forming-breaking down-forming again-being stable gradually

Genome-wide in silico identification of membrane-bound transcription factors in plant species

Membrane-bound transcription factors (MTFs) are located in cellular membranes due to their transmembrane domains. In plants, proteolytic processing is considered to be the main mechanism for MTF activation, which ensures the liberation of MTFs from membranes and further their translocation into the nucleus to regulate gene expression; this process skips both the transcriptional and translational stages, and thus it guarantees the prompt responses of plants to various stimuli. Currently, information concerning plant MTFs is limited to model organisms, including Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa, and little is known in other plant species at the genome level. In the present study, seven membrane topology predictors widely used by the research community were employed to establish a reliable workflow for MTF identification. Genome-wide in silico analysis of MTFs was then performed in 14 plant species spanning the chlorophytes, bryophytes, gymnosperms, monocots and eudicots. A total of 1,089 MTFs have been identified from a total of 25,850 transcription factors in these 14 plant species. These MTFs belong to 52 gene family, and the top six most abundant families are the NAC (128), SBP (77), C2H2 (70), bZIP (67), MYB-related (65) and bHLH (63) families. The MTFs have transmembrane spans ranging from one to thirteen, and 71.5% and 21.1% of the MTFs have one and two transmembrane motifs, respectively. Most of the MTFs in this study have transmembrane motifs located in either N- or C-terminal regions, indicating that proteolytic cleavage could be a conserved mechanism for MTF activation. Additionally, approximately half of the MTFs in the genome of either Arabidopsis thaliana or Gossypium raimondii could be potentially regulated by alternative splicing, indicating that alternative splicing is another conserved activation mechanism for MTFs. The present study performed systematic analyses of MTFs in plant lineages at the genome level, and provides invaluable information for the research community

Effect of Different Harvest Maturity on the Nutritional Quality of Midknight Valencia Orange Fruit

Midknight Valencia Orange is one of the most important late maturing citrus varieties. In order to study the effect of different harvest maturity on the nutritional quality of this variety and to determine its optimal harvesting period, the quality indexes of Midknight Valencia Orange, including color difference, firmness, carotenoid, soluble sugars, organic acids, free amino acids, mineral elements, flavonoid and total phenol content were measured and a correlation analysis was performed. The result showed that different harvest maturity had significant effects on the quality of Midknight Valencia Orange. With the delay of harvesting time, the coloration process of the peel gradually changed from the stem end to the bottom end and the peel showed a bright yellow after 360 days of flowering. The contents of carotenoid, ascorbic acid, total phenol and flavonoid increased, while the content of soluble solid increased first and then decreased, and the titrable acid content decreased significantly. The main soluble sugars in Midknight Valencia Orange fruit were glucose, sucrose, fructose, talose and inositol, and the contents of glucose and sucrose showed an increasing trend during harvesting. The main organic acids were citric acid, malic acid and quinic acid, and the content of citric acid decreased during harvesting. The main free amino acids were proline, arginine and serine, which showed an increasing trend during harvesting. Based on the evaluation indexes prescribed above, 360~400 days (April~May) after flowering is the appropriate harvesting time for Midknight Valencia Orange. Besides, the correlation analysis results showed that, as the indicator often used to judge the maturity of fruit, the firmness and titratable acid content of Midknight Valencia Orange have highly correlation with the content of carotenoid, soluble sugars, organic acids, free amino acids, mineral elements, flavonoid and total phenol. The firmness, titratable acid content and TSSC/TA ratio of Midknight Valencia can be used for the determination of harvesting time, namely fruit with a firmness 1.33~1.03 kg, titratable acid content 1.77%~1.30% and 5.41~6.96 TSS/TA ratio showed a good quality. The results of this study can provide a scientific basis for the determination the suitable harvesting period of Midknight Valencia Orange

Interaction of Antimicrobial Peptide Ponericin W1, Thanatin, and Mastatopara-S with Geotrichum citri-aurantii Genomic DNA

Antimicrobial peptides of mastatopara-S (M-S), thanatin, and ponericin W1(P W1) were able to disrupt the membrane integrity and alter the morphology of the hyphae of Geotrichum citri-aurantii and then reduced the sour rot of citrus fruit. In order to understand the mechanisms of thanatin, P W1 and M-S other than membrane disruption, the interaction betwixt the peptides and G. citri-aurantii DNA were investigated in this research. The laser confocal microscopy found that P W1, thanatin, and M-S could penetrate the cell membrane. Gel retardation assay demonstrated that P W1, thanatin, and M-S could bind to the G. citri-aurantii genomic DNA in vitro. UV-visible spectra and fluorescence spectra analysis further confirmed that the peptides can bind to the DNA, and then insert into the base pairs in the DNA helix, followed by wrecking the double-helix structure. In addition, M-S, thanatin, and P W1 can suppress the synthesis of DNA and RNA of G. citri-aurantii

Phenylalanine Promotes Biofilm Formation of <i>Meyerozyma caribbica</i> to Improve Biocontrol Efficacy against Jujube Black Spot Rot

During storage and transportation after harvest, the jujube fruit is susceptible to black spot rot, which is caused by Alternaria alternata. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the yeast Meyerozyma caribbica in controlling A. alternata in postharvest jujube fruits, and to explore the biofilm formation mechanism. The results showed that M. caribbica treatment significantly reduced the A. alternata decay in jujube fruits. M. caribbica could rapidly colonize jujube fruit wounds, adhering tightly to hyphae of A. alternata, and accompanied by the production of extracellular secretions. In in vitro experiments, we identified that M. caribbica adhered to polystyrene plates, indicating a strong biofilm-forming ability. Furthermore, we demonstrated that M. caribbica can secrete phenylethanol, a quorum sensing molecule which can affect biofilm development. Phenylalanine (a precursor substance for phenylethanol synthesis) enhanced the secretion of phenylethanol and promoted the formation of M. caribbica biofilms. Meanwhile, phenylalanine enhanced the biological control performance of M. caribbica against jujube black spot rot. Our study provided new insights that enhance the biological control performance of antagonistic yeast