AUTHOR=Yao Gai-Fang , Li Chuang , Sun Ke-Ke , Tang Jun , Huang Zhong-Qin , Yang Feng , Huang Guan-Gen , Hu Lan-Ying , Jin Peng , Hu Kang-Di , Zhang Hua 

TITLE=Hydrogen Sulfide Maintained the Good Appearance and Nutrition in Post-harvest Tomato Fruits by Antagonizing the Effect of Ethylene

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2020.00584

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2020.00584

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Hydrogen sulfide (H<sub>2</sub>S) could act as a versatile signaling molecule in delaying fruit ripening and senescence. Ethylene (C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub>) also plays a key role in climacteric fruit ripening, but little attention has been given to its interaction with H<sub>2</sub>S in modulating fruit ripening and senescence. To study the role of H<sub>2</sub>S treatment on the fruit quality and nutrient metabolism, tomato fruits at white mature stage were treated with ethylene and ethylene plus H<sub>2</sub>S. By comparing to C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub> treatment, we found that additional H<sub>2</sub>S significantly delayed the color change of tomato fruit, and maintained higher chlorophyll and lower flavonoids during storage. Moreover, H<sub>2</sub>S could inhibit the activity of protease, maintained higher levels of nutritional-related metabolites, such as anthocyanin, starch, soluble protein, ascorbic acid by comparing to C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub> treatment. Gene expression analysis showed that additional H<sub>2</sub>S attenuated the expression of beta-amylase encoding gene <italic>BAM3</italic>, UDP-glycosyltransferase encoding genes, ethylene-responsive transcription factor <italic>ERF003</italic> and <italic>DOF22</italic>. Furthermore, principal component analysis suggested that starch, titratable acids, and ascorbic acid were important factors for affecting the tomato storage quality, and the correlation analysis further showed that H<sub>2</sub>S affected pigments metabolism and the transformation of macromolecular to small molecular metabolites. These results showed that additional H<sub>2</sub>S could maintain the better appearance and nutritional quality than C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub> treatment alone, and prolong the storage period of post-harvest tomato fruits.</p>