November 13, 2025 | Postharvest Biology and Technology |
A strategy to reduce chilling injury in postharvest banana (Musa acuminata) during cold storage was investigated in a study conducted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. Chilling injury is a common problem in tropical fruits stored at low temperatures and can lead to physiological damage, quality deterioration, and economic losses. The study examined whether exogenous adenine (ADE) treatment could improve cold tolerance in bananas by regulating cellular metabolism.
Banana fruits treated with 1.0 mM ADE were stored at 6 °C and evaluated through physiological measurements combined with transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses. The results showed that ADE treatment significantly alleviated chilling injury symptoms. ADE reduced respiration rate, decreased hydrogen peroxide accumulation, and lowered malondialdehyde levels, indicating reduced oxidative stress. Activities of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase and peroxidase were also enhanced, helping maintain cellular redox balance and membrane integrity.
Further analysis revealed that ADE stimulated the purine salvage pathway by enhancing the expression of the purine transporter gene MaPUP4, which contributed to maintaining ATP levels during cold storage. Molecular dynamics simulations supported the interaction between adenine and the MaPUP4 transporter. As a result of these coordinated responses, the chilling injury index of treated fruits was lower than that of untreated fruit. The study demonstrates that adenine treatment can improve cold tolerance in banana during storage by regulating energy metabolism and oxidative stress.
