Biotechnology Advances during Fruit Ripening and Vegetable Post-harvest

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Genetics, Genomics and Biotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 September 2024 | Viewed by 1625

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Interests: postharvest biology; ethylene signaling; sex determination; molecular farming; auxin transport; disease resistance; plant biotechnology; plant genome editing; plant molecular biology
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Guest Editor
College of Agriculture, Chinese Culture University, Taipei 11114, Taiwan
Interests: plant gene transfer; postharvest biotechnology; ethylene; bioreactor; plant molecular biology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fruit and vegetable crops are major nutrient sources for humanity. Their quality and marketability alter during ripening and post-harvest because they keep respiring and undergoing physiological and metabolic changes. Many physical treatments and applications of chemicals for shelf-life extension and quality improvement in postharvest fruits and vegetables have been developed. Recently, marked progress has been made in the application of biotechnologies such as genetic transformation, gene silencing, genome editing, edible coating, and bioactive additives. Thus, papers that explore biotechnologies on fruit ripening and vegetable post-harvest to improve storage quality, understand and regulate mechanisms to elucidate quality deterioration and decay, reduce the incidence of postharvest diseases, and control postharvest loss during storage and transport are welcomed. All manuscripts, including original research articles, reviews, and methodology papers, are highly encouraged.

Prof. Dr. Yi-Yin Do
Prof. Dr. Pung-Ling Huang
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • genetic transformation
  • gene silencing
  • genome editing
  • shelf-life extension
  • quality improvement

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 6514 KiB  
Article
Mango Fruit Detachment of Trees after Applying a Blend Composed of HNO3 and Charcoal Activated
by David Vargas-Cano, Federico Hahn, José Luis Rodriguez de la O, Alejandro Barrientos-Priego and Víctor Prado-Hernández
Plants 2024, 13(9), 1216; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13091216 - 28 Apr 2024
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Abstract
As young workers prefer urban labors and migrate to USA and Canada, mango harvesting is becoming scarce on Mexican coasts. This seasonal labor is becoming expensive and when many orchards produce fruit simultaneously, grower losses increase. In this research, an innovative fruit detachment [...] Read more.
As young workers prefer urban labors and migrate to USA and Canada, mango harvesting is becoming scarce on Mexican coasts. This seasonal labor is becoming expensive and when many orchards produce fruit simultaneously, grower losses increase. In this research, an innovative fruit detachment method was tested after applying a viscous paste to the pedicel of mango fruits hanging in the tree. Activated carbon or charcoal (AC), was mixed with different amounts of nitric acid to provide three AC composite blends named: light, medium, and dense. The nanomaterial was applied with a brush to the fruit pedicel/peduncle taking up to 4 h before the mango fruits felt to a net below the tree canopy. Mango detachment experiments indicated that the medium blend was the most efficient in releasing the fruit, taking an average of 2 h. The dense nano-material decreased latex exudation to 7% of the fruits. Fruit maturity emerged as a crucial factor for detachment time, followed by mango weight. Full article
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20 pages, 8910 KiB  
Article
Characterization of MicroRNAs and Gene Expression in ACC Oxidase RNA Interference-Based Transgenic Bananas
by Yan Xia, Zhongxiong Lai, Yi-Yin Do and Pung-Ling Huang
Plants 2023, 12(19), 3414; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12193414 - 28 Sep 2023
Viewed by 956
Abstract
Banana (Musa acuminata, AAA group) is a typically respiratory climacteric fruit. Previously, genes encoding ACC oxidase, one of the key enzymes in ethylene biosynthesis, Mh-ACO1 and Mh-ACO2 in bananas were silenced individually using RNAi interference technology, and fruit ripening of transgenic [...] Read more.
Banana (Musa acuminata, AAA group) is a typically respiratory climacteric fruit. Previously, genes encoding ACC oxidase, one of the key enzymes in ethylene biosynthesis, Mh-ACO1 and Mh-ACO2 in bananas were silenced individually using RNAi interference technology, and fruit ripening of transgenic bananas was postponed. Here, the differential expression of miRNAs and their targeted mRNAs were analyzed in the transcriptomes of fruits at the third ripening stage, peel color more green than yellow, from the untransformed and RNAi transgenic bananas. Five significantly differentially expressed miRNAs (mac-miR169a, mac-miR319c-3p, mac-miR171a, mac-miR156e-5p, and mac-miR164a-5p) were identified. The predicted miRNA target genes were mainly enriched in six KEGG pathways, including ‘sulfur relay system’, ‘protein digestion and absorption’, ‘histidine metabolism’, ‘pathogenic E. coli infection’, ‘sulfur metabolism’, and ‘starch and sucrose metabolism’. After ethylene treatment, the expression of ACC oxidase silencing-associated miRNAs was down-regulated, and that of their target genes was up-regulated along with fruit ripening. The evolutionary clustering relationships of miRNA precursors among 12 gene families related to fruit ripening were analyzed. The corresponding expression patterns of mature bodies were mainly concentrated in flowers, fruits, and leaves. Our results indicated that ethylene biosynthesis is associated with miRNAs regulating the expression of sulfur metabolism-related genes in bananas. Full article
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: Characterization of microRNAs and gene expression in ACC oxidase RNA interference-based transgenic bananas
Authors: Yi-Yin Do
Affiliation: Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Abstract: Characterization of microRNAs and gene expression in ACC oxidase RNA interference-based transgenic bananas

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