About this Research Topic
The fruit and vegetable commercial chain From farm to Table implies important losses in market and nutritional quality during the delivery and storage of produce. Fresh horticultural commodities, as living entities, continue with their metabolic processes after harvest, including photosynthesis, respiration, fermentation, transpiration, cell wall dissembling, and hormone signalling, but also interactions with other organisms such as pathogens, whose effects are even maintained when the different organs are separated from the mother plant. As a consequence, more than half of the fruit and vegetable production is lost during a short period of time. Accordingly, developing innovative strategies and technologies is necessary to prevent this decline in the quality of crops and their marketability.
During the last decades, Reactive Nitrogen Species (RNS) have emerged as a strategy for extending shelf life in horticultural crops. Within these RNS, nitric oxide (NO) is the most studied molecule. NO is the smallest gaseous bioactive molecule, and its application has risen as a promising tool for technological uses to modulate the changes in the nutritional quality of fresh horticultural commodities and, therefore, minimize losses.
As a radical and a multifunctional signalling molecule, NO can interact with many cellular compounds and phytohormones within different cell compartments. Thanks to this ubiquity, NO can produce a variety of responses in different commodities with specific treatments addressing food safety and security.
This research topic will highlight the latest advances in NO biology in fruits and vegetables during growth, ripening, and postharvest life. The following aspects will be included in this article collection:
• Mechanisms of NO modulation of fruit ripening.
• Postharvest technology of NO donors and their interrelation with other signal molecules: hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and reactive oxygen species (ROS), among others.
• NO amelioration of damage and postharvest diseases in horticultural commodities.
• Studies on NO and other RNS in fruits and vegetables during preharvest which may impact the postharvest nutritional quality.
• Current challenges of NO technology during postharvest to prevent fruit and vegetable breakdown and decay.
• NO and other RNS synthesis, signalling, and interplay with phytohormones during fruit ripening and horticultural postharvest.
• NO as a key regulator for growth, a modulator of metabolism and environmental and biological interactions in horticultural commodities.
During the last decades, Reactive Nitrogen Species (RNS) have emerged as a strategy for extending shelf life in horticultural crops. Within these RNS, nitric oxide (NO) is the most studied molecule. NO is the smallest gaseous bioactive molecule, and its application has risen as a promising tool for technological uses to modulate the changes in the nutritional quality of fresh horticultural commodities and, therefore, minimize losses.
As a radical and a multifunctional signalling molecule, NO can interact with many cellular compounds and phytohormones within different cell compartments. Thanks to this ubiquity, NO can produce a variety of responses in different commodities with specific treatments addressing food safety and security.
This research topic will highlight the latest advances in NO biology in fruits and vegetables during growth, ripening, and postharvest life. The following aspects will be included in this article collection:
• Mechanisms of NO modulation of fruit ripening.
• Postharvest technology of NO donors and their interrelation with other signal molecules: hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and reactive oxygen species (ROS), among others.
• NO amelioration of damage and postharvest diseases in horticultural commodities.
• Studies on NO and other RNS in fruits and vegetables during preharvest which may impact the postharvest nutritional quality.
• Current challenges of NO technology during postharvest to prevent fruit and vegetable breakdown and decay.
• NO and other RNS synthesis, signalling, and interplay with phytohormones during fruit ripening and horticultural postharvest.
• NO as a key regulator for growth, a modulator of metabolism and environmental and biological interactions in horticultural commodities.
Keywords: Fresh produce, Fruit development, Fruit ripening, Hydrogen sulfide, Phytohormones, Reactive Oxygen Species
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
