TY - JOUR
T1 - Synergistic Effect of Melatonin and Selenium Improves Resistance to Postharvest Gray Mold Disease of Tomato Fruit
AU - Zang, Huawei
AU - Ma, Jiaojiao
AU - Wu, Zhilin
AU - Yuan, Linxi
AU - Lin, Zhi Qing
AU - Zhu, Renbin
AU - Bañuelos, Gary S.
AU - Reiter, Russel J.
AU - Li, Miao
AU - Yin, Xuebin
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 31401545), the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (Grant 1408085MC68), the Natural Science Fund of Education Department of Anhui Province (Grant KJ2017A158), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grants BK2012195 and BK2012202), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant 20100470108).
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 Zang, Ma, Wu, Yuan, Lin, Zhu, Bañuelos, Reiter, Li and Yin.
PY - 2022/6/22
Y1 - 2022/6/22
N2 - Melatonin (MT) is a ubiquitous hormone molecule that is commonly distributed in nature. MT not only plays an important role in animals and humans but also has extensive functions in plants. Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient for animals and humans, and is a beneficial element in higher plants at low concentrations. Postharvest diseases caused by fungal pathogens lead to huge economic losses worldwide. In this study, tomato fruits were treated with an optimal sodium selenite (20 mg/L) and melatonin (10 μmol/L) 2 h and were stored for 7 days at room temperature simulating shelf life, and the synergistic effects of Se and MT collectively called Se-Mel on gray mold decay in tomato fruits by Botrytis cinerea was investigated. MT did not have antifungal activity against B. cinerea in vitro, while Se significantly inhibited gray mold development caused by B. cinerea in tomatoes. However, the interaction of MT and Se showed significant inhibition of the spread and growth of the disease, showing the highest control effect of 74.05%. The combination of MT with Se treatment enhanced the disease resistance of fruits by improving the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT), as well as increasing the gene expression level of pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins. Altogether, our results indicate that the combination of MT and Se would induce the activation of antioxidant enzymes and increase the expression of PR proteins genes that might directly enhance the resistance in tomato fruit against postharvest pathogenic fungus B. cinerea.
AB - Melatonin (MT) is a ubiquitous hormone molecule that is commonly distributed in nature. MT not only plays an important role in animals and humans but also has extensive functions in plants. Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient for animals and humans, and is a beneficial element in higher plants at low concentrations. Postharvest diseases caused by fungal pathogens lead to huge economic losses worldwide. In this study, tomato fruits were treated with an optimal sodium selenite (20 mg/L) and melatonin (10 μmol/L) 2 h and were stored for 7 days at room temperature simulating shelf life, and the synergistic effects of Se and MT collectively called Se-Mel on gray mold decay in tomato fruits by Botrytis cinerea was investigated. MT did not have antifungal activity against B. cinerea in vitro, while Se significantly inhibited gray mold development caused by B. cinerea in tomatoes. However, the interaction of MT and Se showed significant inhibition of the spread and growth of the disease, showing the highest control effect of 74.05%. The combination of MT with Se treatment enhanced the disease resistance of fruits by improving the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT), as well as increasing the gene expression level of pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins. Altogether, our results indicate that the combination of MT and Se would induce the activation of antioxidant enzymes and increase the expression of PR proteins genes that might directly enhance the resistance in tomato fruit against postharvest pathogenic fungus B. cinerea.
KW - Botrytis cinerea
KW - mineral nutrient
KW - PR proteins
KW - reactive oxygen species
KW - Se-Mel
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85133740154&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fpls.2022.903936
DO - 10.3389/fpls.2022.903936
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85133740154
SN - 1664-462X
VL - 13
JO - Frontiers in Plant Science
JF - Frontiers in Plant Science
M1 - 903936
ER -