AUTHOR=Huang Yan , Sun Cuicui , Guan Xiangnan , Lian Sen , Li Baohua , Wang Caixia 

TITLE=Butylated Hydroxytoluene Induced Resistance Against Botryosphaeria dothidea in Apple Fruit

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.599062

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2020.599062

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Apple ring rot caused by <italic>Botryosphaeria dothidea</italic> is an important disease in China, which leads to serious economic losses during storage. Plant activators are compounds that induce resistance against pathogen infection and are considered as a promising alternative strategy to traditional chemical treatment. In the present study, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), a potential plant activator, was evaluated for its induced resistance against <italic>B. dothidea</italic> in postharvest apple fruits. The physiological and molecular mechanisms involved in induced resistance were also explored. The results showed that BHT treatment could trigger strong resistance in apple fruits against <italic>B. dothidea</italic>, and the optimum concentration was 200 μmol L<sup>–1</sup> by immersion of fruits. BHT treatment significantly increased the activities of four defensive enzymes and alleviated lipid peroxidation by increasing antioxidant enzyme activities. In addition, salicylic acid (SA) content was enhanced by BHT treatment as well as the expression of three SA biosynthesis-related genes (<italic>MdSID2</italic>, <italic>MdPAD4</italic>, and <italic>MdEDS1</italic>) and two defense genes (<italic>MdPR1</italic> and <italic>MdPR5</italic>). Our results suggest that BHT-conferred resistance against <italic>B. dothidea</italic> might be mainly through increasing the activities of defense-related enzymes and activating SA signaling pathway, which may provide an alternative strategy to control apple ring rot in postharvest fruits.</p>