Glutathione-Ascorbate cycle and lipid peroxidation in fruit of sweet cherry landraces of Campania region (Italy). XIV FISV CONGRESS Book of abstracts, Rome (Italy).
Fresh fruits are living organs that continue their metabolism even
after harvest. The advanced stages of ripening culminate into the
senescence process, that eventually leads to the death of fruit. Several
works highlight the importance of antioxidant metabolism in relation
to the fruit quality and shelf-life: fruit ripening is accompanied by a
progressive increase in oxidative stress that is controlled by a related
induction of the antioxidant scavenging systems. Dysfunctioning of such
systems in the later stages of ripening causes an increase of oxidation,
that is among the most important factors of fruit decay, favouring also
parasite attack and development. High antioxidant metabolite levels, in
fact, could delay senescence and preserve nutritional and nutraceutical
characteristics, significantly reducing fruit loss and cost. Sweet cherries
fruits are excellent sources of phytochemicals: nutraceuticals and
antioxidants. It has been demonstrated that the eating of cherries reduces
the risk of cancer and the joint pains, and protects from cardiovascular
and neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of this work was to characterize
glutathione-ascorbate cycle as well as lipid peroxidation in mature
fruits of the sweet cherry germoplasm of Campania region and their
involvment in post harvest storage. Fruits from cherry landraces of
Campania region were collected at commercial maturity and used for the
analyses. Glutathione as ascorbate contents differed among the landraces
as welle as glutathione reductase. Differences were also found in the
lipid peroxidation activities using the MDA test. . the data of glutathione
level and redox state and gluthione peroxidase, ascorbate level and redox
state as ascorbate peroxidase activities, tocophrols and polyphenols,
two groups of landraces have been evidenced. The first showed high
polyphenol oxidases activities, that could indicate a higher risk of
developing oxidative stress and, consequently, a higher susceptibility
to the oxidative degradation during shelf-life. The second showed high
ascorbic acid and tocopherols contents, and low polyphenol oxidase
activities. The high metabolites concentration could reduce the risk of
oxidative damages during storage, therefore they could show a longer
shelf-life than the other tested fruits. These characteristics were probably
due to endogenous characteristics, making these landraces particularly
interesting for breeding programs aimed to improve sweet cherry shelflife,
highlighting also the value of genetic heritage of sweet cherry of
Campania region