Lysophosphatidylethanolamine delays fruit softening of persimmon (Diospyros kaki)

Abstract

We investigated the possibility of prolonging the freshness of persimmons (Diospyros kaki) for overseas export. Previous studies aimed at improving the shelf life of harvested persimmons focused on the synthetic gas 1-MCP, an inhibitor of ethylene perception. In this study, the natural lipid compound lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LPE) was applied to prolong the freshness of persimmons. LPE significantly delayed persimmon softening when applied not only during fruit growth, but also after harvest, or after a long period of post-harvest cold storage, simulating conditions of overseas export. LPE suppressed the expression of the softening-related genes ACS1, ACO1, ERF24, DkUGD1, DkCHI3, and DkB-CHI1. These results reveal the effects of LPE on persimmon softening and the related molecular mechanisms and provide evidence that LPE can be used to delay persimmon softening.