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Fruit Physiology through Signaling Processes: Latest Advances and Future Challenges
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Fruit Physiology through Signaling Processes: Latest Advances and Future Challenges

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2022) | Viewed by 27603

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. José M. Palma

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Stress, Development and Signaling in Plants, Spanish National Research Council, CSIC, Granada, Spain
Interests: fruit and vegetable antioxidants; reactive oxygen and nitrogen species; fruit ripening; transcriptomics; proteomics; metabolomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Luciano Freschi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Botany, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil
Interests: nitric oxide metabolism; signaling processes; fruit physiology; abiotic stress in crop species; ROS and RNS metabolism; antioxidants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Francisco J. Corpas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Stress, Development and Signaling in Plants, Estación Experimental del Zaidín, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 18008 Granada, Spain
Interests: nitric oxide metabolism; signaling processes; fruit physiology; abiotic stress in crop species; ROS and RNS metabolism; melatonin; hydrogen sulfide; antioxidants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

During all physiological events in living beings, including plants, a series of molecular interactions occur as a consequence of signaling process networks. This biological logistic develops a sequential stepwise communication that involves a signal emitting source (a biochemical reaction inside either a cell or a tissue), the signal unit (commonly a simple molecule), and a receptor/target (usually a recognition molecule). This simplistic view of cell signaling involves complex issues such as the high chemical reactivity of many of the signaling compounds against biological macromolecules, the activation of post-translational modifications, the recognition and the response specificities of the target elements, or unwanted subsidiary effects.

Fruits are amazing plant organs that occur at the final steps of the sexual reproductive chain in plants. From pollination to the emergence of new generations, many metabolic changes occur that participate in the setting, growth and development, ripening, and senescence of fruit. Throughout all these processes, new metabolic pathways involving different subcellular compartments (cytosol, cell wall, plastids, mitochondria, peroxisomes, etc.) are triggered, while some others are deactivated. All these events are mediated by signaling processes according to the interaction between the genome and the environmental conditions.

This Special Issue attempts to cover all issues relating to the signaling chains taking part in the metabolism of climacteric and nonclimacteric fruits, considering all physiological stages, the molecular mechanisms involved, or the identification and/or proposal of new molecules with signaling capacity, such as hydrogen peroxide, nitric oxide, hydrogen sulfide, and melatonin. Researchers with expertise in Plant Physiology, Plant Biochemistry, Plant Molecular and Cell Biology, Genetics, Chemistry, or Pharmacology are invited to participate in this Special Issue. Likewise, studies related to the postharvest stage and experimental approaches to palliate possible damage are also welcomed.

Prof. Dr. José M. Palma
Dr. Luciano Freschi
Prof. Francisco J. Corpas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • ethylene
  • hydrogen peroxide
  • hydrogen sulfide
  • melatonin
  • nitric oxide
  • post-translational modifications
  • postharvest
  • reactive oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur species (ROS, RNS, RSS)
  • serotonin

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Editorial

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3 pages, 448 KiB  
Editorial
Fruit Physiology through Signaling Processes: Latest Advances and Future Challenges
by Luciano Freschi, Francisco J. Corpas and José M. Palma
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(2), 976; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24020976 - 4 Jan 2023
Viewed by 2914
Abstract
Fruits are unique to flowering plants and confer a selective advantage to these species by facilitating seed maturation and dispersal [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fruit Physiology through Signaling Processes: Latest Advances and Future Challenges)
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Research

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16 pages, 2940 KiB  
Article
Postharvest Treatment of Hydrogen Sulfide Delays the Softening of Chilean Strawberry Fruit by Downregulating the Expression of Key Genes Involved in Pectin Catabolism
by Sebastian A. Molinett, Juan F. Alfaro, Felipe A. Sáez, Sebastian Elgueta, María A. Moya-León and Carlos R. Figueroa
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(18), 10008; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms221810008 - 16 Sep 2021
Cited by 30 | Viewed by 3046
Abstract
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) plays several physiological roles in plants. Despite the evidence, the role of H2S on cell wall disassembly and its implications on fleshy fruit firmness remains unknown. In this work, the effect of H2S treatment [...] Read more.
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) plays several physiological roles in plants. Despite the evidence, the role of H2S on cell wall disassembly and its implications on fleshy fruit firmness remains unknown. In this work, the effect of H2S treatment on the shelf-life, cell wall polymers and cell wall modifying-related gene expression of Chilean strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis) fruit was tested during postharvest storage. The treatment with H2S prolonged the shelf-life of fruit by an effect of optimal dose. Fruit treated with 0.2 mM H2S maintained significantly higher fruit firmness than non-treated fruit, reducing its decay and tripling its shelf-life. Additionally, H2S treatment delays pectin degradation throughout the storage period and significantly downregulated the expression of genes encoding for pectinases, such as polygalacturonase, pectate lyase, and expansin. This evidence suggests that H2S as a gasotransmitter prolongs the post-harvest shelf-life of the fruit and prevents its fast softening rate by a downregulation of the expression of key pectinase genes, which leads to a decreased pectin degradation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fruit Physiology through Signaling Processes: Latest Advances and Future Challenges)
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19 pages, 7611 KiB  
Article
Deep Sequencing of Small RNA Reveals the Molecular Regulatory Network of AtENO2 Regulating Seed Germination
by Yu Wu, Lamei Zheng, Jie Bing, Huimin Liu and Genfa Zhang
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(10), 5088; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22105088 - 11 May 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2716
Abstract
Seed germination is a key step in the new life cycle of plants. In agriculture, we regard the rapid and consistent process of seed germination as one of the necessary conditions to measure the high quality and yield of crops. ENO2 is a [...] Read more.
Seed germination is a key step in the new life cycle of plants. In agriculture, we regard the rapid and consistent process of seed germination as one of the necessary conditions to measure the high quality and yield of crops. ENO2 is a key enzyme in glycolysis, which also plays an important role in plant growth and abiotic stress responses. In our study, we found that the time of seed germination in AtENO2 mutation (eno2−) was earlier than that of wild type (WT) in Arabidopsis thaliana. Previous studies have shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) were vital in seed germination. After deep sequencing of small RNA, we found 590 differentially expressed miRNAs in total, of which 87 were significantly differentially expressed miRNAs. By predicting the target genes of miRNAs and analyzing the GO annotation, we have counted 18 genes related to seed germination, including ARF family, TIR1, INVC, RR19, TUDOR2, GA3OX2, PXMT1, and TGA1. MiR9736-z, miR5059-z, ath-miR167a-5p, ath-miR167b, ath-miR5665, ath-miR866-3p, miR10186-z, miR8165-z, ath-miR857, ath-miR399b, ath-miR399c-3p, miR399-y, miR163-z, ath-miR393a-5p, and ath-miR393b-5p are the key miRNAs regulating seed germination-related genes. Through KEGG enrichment analysis, we found that phytohormone signal transduction pathways were significantly enriched, and these miRNAs mentioned above also participate in the regulation of the genes in plant hormone signal transduction pathways, thus affecting the synthesis of plant hormones and further affecting the process of seed germination. This study laid the foundation for further exploration of the AtENO2 regulation for seed germination. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fruit Physiology through Signaling Processes: Latest Advances and Future Challenges)
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23 pages, 4008 KiB  
Article
Identification of Compounds with Potential Therapeutic Uses from Sweet Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) Fruits and Their Modulation by Nitric Oxide (NO)
by Lucía Guevara, María Ángeles Domínguez-Anaya, Alba Ortigosa, Salvador González-Gordo, Caridad Díaz, Francisca Vicente, Francisco J. Corpas, José Pérez del Palacio and José M. Palma
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(9), 4476; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22094476 - 25 Apr 2021
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 5012
Abstract
Plant species are precursors of a wide variety of secondary metabolites that, besides being useful for themselves, can also be used by humans for their consumption and economic benefit. Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) fruit is not only a common food and spice [...] Read more.
Plant species are precursors of a wide variety of secondary metabolites that, besides being useful for themselves, can also be used by humans for their consumption and economic benefit. Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) fruit is not only a common food and spice source, it also stands out for containing high amounts of antioxidants (such as vitamins C and A), polyphenols and capsaicinoids. Particular attention has been paid to capsaicin, whose anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative and analgesic activities have been reported in the literature. Due to the potential interest in pepper metabolites for human use, in this project, we carried out an investigation to identify new bioactive compounds of this crop. To achieve this, we applied a metabolomic approach, using an HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography) separative technique coupled to metabolite identification by high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). After chromatographic analysis and data processing against metabolic databases, 12 differential bioactive compounds were identified in sweet pepper fruits, including quercetin and its derivatives, L-tryptophan, phytosphingosin, FAD, gingerglycolipid A, tetrahydropentoxylin, blumenol C glucoside, colnelenic acid and capsoside A. The abundance of these metabolites varied depending on the ripening stage of the fruits, either immature green or ripe red. We also studied the variation of these 12 metabolites upon treatment with exogenous nitric oxide (NO), a free radical gas involved in a good number of physiological processes in higher plants such as germination, growth, flowering, senescence, and fruit ripening, among others. Overall, it was found that the content of the analyzed metabolites depended on the ripening stage and on the presence of NO. The metabolic pattern followed by quercetin and its derivatives, as a consequence of the ripening stage and NO treatment, was also corroborated by transcriptomic analysis of genes involved in the synthesis of these compounds. This opens new research perspectives on the pepper fruit’s bioactive compounds with nutraceutical potentiality, where biotechnological strategies can be applied for optimizing the level of these beneficial compounds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fruit Physiology through Signaling Processes: Latest Advances and Future Challenges)
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16 pages, 6438 KiB  
Article
The Cysteine-Rich Peptide Snakin-2 Negatively Regulates Tubers Sprouting through Modulating Lignin Biosynthesis and H2O2 Accumulation in Potato
by Mengsheng Deng, Jie Peng, Jie Zhang, Shuang Ran, Chengcheng Cai, Liping Yu, Su Ni, Xueli Huang, Liqin Li and Xiyao Wang
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(5), 2287; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22052287 - 25 Feb 2021
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 2889
Abstract
Potato tuber dormancy is critical for the post-harvest quality. Snakin/Gibberellic Acid Stimulated in Arabidopsis (GASA) family genes are involved in the plants’ defense against pathogens and in growth and development, but the effect of Snakin-2 (SN2) on tuber dormancy and sprouting is largely [...] Read more.
Potato tuber dormancy is critical for the post-harvest quality. Snakin/Gibberellic Acid Stimulated in Arabidopsis (GASA) family genes are involved in the plants’ defense against pathogens and in growth and development, but the effect of Snakin-2 (SN2) on tuber dormancy and sprouting is largely unknown. In this study, a transgenic approach was applied to manipulate the expression level of SN2 in tubers, and it demonstrated that StSN2 significantly controlled tuber sprouting, and silencing StSN2 resulted in a release of dormancy and overexpressing tubers showed a longer dormant period than that of the control. Further analyses revealed that the decrease expression level accelerated skin cracking and water loss. Metabolite analyses revealed that StSN2 significantly down-regulated the accumulation of lignin precursors in the periderm, and the change of lignin content was documented, a finding which was consistent with the precursors’ level. Subsequently, proteomics found that cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD), caffeic acid O-methyltransferase (COMT) and peroxidase (Prx), the key proteins for lignin synthesis, were significantly up-regulated in silencing lines, and gene expression and enzyme activity analyses also supported this effect. Interestingly, we found that StSN2 physically interacts with three peroxidases catalyzing the oxidation and polymerization of lignin. In addition, SN2 altered the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) content and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT). These results suggest that StSN2 negatively regulates lignin biosynthesis and H2O2 accumulation, and ultimately inhibits the sprouting of potato tubers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fruit Physiology through Signaling Processes: Latest Advances and Future Challenges)
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21 pages, 3658 KiB  
Article
Transcriptome and Hormone Analyses Revealed Insights into Hormonal and Vesicle Trafficking Regulation among Olea europaea Fruit Tissues in Late Development
by Beatriz Briegas, Jorge Corbacho, Maria C. Parra-Lobato, Miguel A. Paredes, Juana Labrador, Mercedes Gallardo and Maria C. Gomez-Jimenez
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21(14), 4819; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21144819 - 8 Jul 2020
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3202
Abstract
Fruit ripening and abscission are the results of the cell wall modification concerning different components of the signaling network. However, molecular-genetic information on the cross-talk between ripe fruit and their abscission zone (AZ) remains limited. In this study, we investigated transcriptional and hormonal [...] Read more.
Fruit ripening and abscission are the results of the cell wall modification concerning different components of the signaling network. However, molecular-genetic information on the cross-talk between ripe fruit and their abscission zone (AZ) remains limited. In this study, we investigated transcriptional and hormonal changes in olive (Olea europaea L. cv Picual) pericarp and AZ tissues of fruit at the last stage of ripening, when fruit abscission occurs, to establish distinct tissue-specific expression patterns related to cell-wall modification, plant-hormone, and vesicle trafficking in combination with data on hormonal content. In this case, transcriptome profiling reveals that gene encoding members of the α-galactosidase and β-hexosaminidase families associated with up-regulation of RabB, RabD, and RabH classes of Rab-GTPases were exclusively transcribed in ripe fruit enriched in ABA, whereas genes of the arabinogalactan protein, laccase, lyase, endo-β-mannanase, ramnose synthase, and xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase families associated with up-regulation of RabC, RabE, and RabG classes of Rab-GTPases were exclusively transcribed in AZ-enriched mainly in JA, which provide the first insights into the functional divergences among these protein families. The enrichment of these protein families in different tissues in combination with data on transcript abundance offer a tenable set of key genes of the regulatory network between olive fruit tissues in late development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fruit Physiology through Signaling Processes: Latest Advances and Future Challenges)
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Review

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28 pages, 1254 KiB  
Review
Versatile Roles of Aquaporins in Plant Growth and Development
by Yan Wang, Zhijie Zhao, Fang Liu, Lirong Sun and Fushun Hao
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21(24), 9485; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21249485 - 13 Dec 2020
Cited by 61 | Viewed by 6381
Abstract
Aquaporins (AQPs) are universal membrane integrated water channel proteins that selectively and reversibly facilitate the movement of water, gases, metalloids, and other small neutral solutes across cellular membranes in living organisms. Compared with other organisms, plants have the largest number of AQP members [...] Read more.
Aquaporins (AQPs) are universal membrane integrated water channel proteins that selectively and reversibly facilitate the movement of water, gases, metalloids, and other small neutral solutes across cellular membranes in living organisms. Compared with other organisms, plants have the largest number of AQP members with diverse characteristics, subcellular localizations and substrate permeabilities. AQPs play important roles in plant water relations, cell turgor pressure maintenance, the hydraulic regulation of roots and leaves, and in leaf transpiration, root water uptake, and plant responses to multiple biotic and abiotic stresses. They are also required for plant growth and development. In this review, we comprehensively summarize the expression and roles of diverse AQPs in the growth and development of various vegetative and reproductive organs in plants. The functions of AQPs in the intracellular translocation of hydrogen peroxide are also discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fruit Physiology through Signaling Processes: Latest Advances and Future Challenges)
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