Improvement of Antioxidant Properties in Fruit from Two Blood and Blond Orange Cultivars by Postharvest Storage at Low Temperature

Numerous studies have revealed the remarkable health-promoting activities of citrus fruits, all of them related to the accumulation of bioactive compounds, including vitamins and phytonutrients. Anthocyanins are characteristic flavonoids present in blood orange, which require low-temperature for the...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lourdes Carmona, Maria Sulli, Gianfranco Diretto, Berta Alquézar, Mónica Alves, Leandro Peña
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-03-01
Series:Antioxidants
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/11/3/547
_version_ 1827650113942585344
author Lourdes Carmona
Maria Sulli
Gianfranco Diretto
Berta Alquézar
Mónica Alves
Leandro Peña
author_facet Lourdes Carmona
Maria Sulli
Gianfranco Diretto
Berta Alquézar
Mónica Alves
Leandro Peña
author_sort Lourdes Carmona
collection DOAJ
description Numerous studies have revealed the remarkable health-promoting activities of citrus fruits, all of them related to the accumulation of bioactive compounds, including vitamins and phytonutrients. Anthocyanins are characteristic flavonoids present in blood orange, which require low-temperature for their production. Storage at low-temperature of blood oranges has been proven to be a feasible postharvest strategy to increase anthocyanins in those countries with warm climates. To our knowledge, no studies comparing the effect of postharvest storage effect on phenylpropanoid accumulation in cultivars with and without anthocyanins production have been published. We have investigated the effect of postharvest cold storage in flavonoid accumulation in juice from <i>Citrus sinensis</i> L. Osbeck in two different oranges: Pera, a blond cultivar, and Moro, a blood one. Our findings indicate a different response to low-temperature of fruit from both cultivars at biochemical and molecular levels. Little changes were observed in Pera before and after storage, while a higher production of phenylpropanoids (3.3-fold higher) and flavonoids (1.4-fold higher), including a rise in anthocyanins from 1.3 ± 0.7 mg/L to 60.0 ± 9.4 mg/L was observed in Moro concurrent with an upregulation of the biosynthetic genes across the biosynthetic pathway. We show that postharvest storage enhances not only anthocyanins but also other flavonoids accumulation in blood oranges (but not in blond ones), further stimulating the interest in blood orange types in antioxidant-rich diets.
first_indexed 2024-03-09T20:10:53Z
format Article
id doaj.art-a299b6dfa14d4d148657a5ef8221940e
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2076-3921
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-09T20:10:53Z
publishDate 2022-03-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Antioxidants
spelling doaj.art-a299b6dfa14d4d148657a5ef8221940e2023-11-24T00:18:36ZengMDPI AGAntioxidants2076-39212022-03-0111354710.3390/antiox11030547Improvement of Antioxidant Properties in Fruit from Two Blood and Blond Orange Cultivars by Postharvest Storage at Low TemperatureLourdes Carmona0Maria Sulli1Gianfranco Diretto2Berta Alquézar3Mónica Alves4Leandro Peña5Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, CP 46022 Valencia, SpainAgenzia Nazionale per le Nuove Tecnologie, l’Energia e lo Sviluppo Economico Sostenibile, Centro Ricerche Casaccia, Via Anguillarese, 301, Santa Maria di Galeria, 00123 Rome, ItalyAgenzia Nazionale per le Nuove Tecnologie, l’Energia e lo Sviluppo Economico Sostenibile, Centro Ricerche Casaccia, Via Anguillarese, 301, Santa Maria di Galeria, 00123 Rome, ItalyInstituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, CP 46022 Valencia, SpainFundo de Defesa da Citricultura (Fundecitrus), Sao Paulo 14807-040, BrazilInstituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, CP 46022 Valencia, SpainNumerous studies have revealed the remarkable health-promoting activities of citrus fruits, all of them related to the accumulation of bioactive compounds, including vitamins and phytonutrients. Anthocyanins are characteristic flavonoids present in blood orange, which require low-temperature for their production. Storage at low-temperature of blood oranges has been proven to be a feasible postharvest strategy to increase anthocyanins in those countries with warm climates. To our knowledge, no studies comparing the effect of postharvest storage effect on phenylpropanoid accumulation in cultivars with and without anthocyanins production have been published. We have investigated the effect of postharvest cold storage in flavonoid accumulation in juice from <i>Citrus sinensis</i> L. Osbeck in two different oranges: Pera, a blond cultivar, and Moro, a blood one. Our findings indicate a different response to low-temperature of fruit from both cultivars at biochemical and molecular levels. Little changes were observed in Pera before and after storage, while a higher production of phenylpropanoids (3.3-fold higher) and flavonoids (1.4-fold higher), including a rise in anthocyanins from 1.3 ± 0.7 mg/L to 60.0 ± 9.4 mg/L was observed in Moro concurrent with an upregulation of the biosynthetic genes across the biosynthetic pathway. We show that postharvest storage enhances not only anthocyanins but also other flavonoids accumulation in blood oranges (but not in blond ones), further stimulating the interest in blood orange types in antioxidant-rich diets.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/11/3/547antioxidantsblood orangesflavonoidsanthocyanins
spellingShingle Lourdes Carmona
Maria Sulli
Gianfranco Diretto
Berta Alquézar
Mónica Alves
Leandro Peña
Improvement of Antioxidant Properties in Fruit from Two Blood and Blond Orange Cultivars by Postharvest Storage at Low Temperature
Antioxidants
antioxidants
blood oranges
flavonoids
anthocyanins
title Improvement of Antioxidant Properties in Fruit from Two Blood and Blond Orange Cultivars by Postharvest Storage at Low Temperature
title_full Improvement of Antioxidant Properties in Fruit from Two Blood and Blond Orange Cultivars by Postharvest Storage at Low Temperature
title_fullStr Improvement of Antioxidant Properties in Fruit from Two Blood and Blond Orange Cultivars by Postharvest Storage at Low Temperature
title_full_unstemmed Improvement of Antioxidant Properties in Fruit from Two Blood and Blond Orange Cultivars by Postharvest Storage at Low Temperature
title_short Improvement of Antioxidant Properties in Fruit from Two Blood and Blond Orange Cultivars by Postharvest Storage at Low Temperature
title_sort improvement of antioxidant properties in fruit from two blood and blond orange cultivars by postharvest storage at low temperature
topic antioxidants
blood oranges
flavonoids
anthocyanins
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/11/3/547
work_keys_str_mv AT lourdescarmona improvementofantioxidantpropertiesinfruitfromtwobloodandblondorangecultivarsbypostharveststorageatlowtemperature
AT mariasulli improvementofantioxidantpropertiesinfruitfromtwobloodandblondorangecultivarsbypostharveststorageatlowtemperature
AT gianfrancodiretto improvementofantioxidantpropertiesinfruitfromtwobloodandblondorangecultivarsbypostharveststorageatlowtemperature
AT bertaalquezar improvementofantioxidantpropertiesinfruitfromtwobloodandblondorangecultivarsbypostharveststorageatlowtemperature
AT monicaalves improvementofantioxidantpropertiesinfruitfromtwobloodandblondorangecultivarsbypostharveststorageatlowtemperature
AT leandropena improvementofantioxidantpropertiesinfruitfromtwobloodandblondorangecultivarsbypostharveststorageatlowtemperature