β-ionone alleviates peach chilling injury by maintaining membrane stability via regulating ROS, lipids, and energy metabolism

ABSTRACT Peaches are highly susceptible to chilling injury (CI) during low-temperature storage, which disrupts the cell membrane system, quality deterioration, and a decrease in market value. β-ionone is a plant natural carotenoid-derived aromatic compound with antioxidant and membrane-protective activities. Given its novelty in postharvest preservation, this study aimed to explore its impacts on the postharvest quality, membrane lipid metabolism, and energy metabolism of peach fruit during cold storage. The treatment effectively alleviated typical CI symptoms. Results showed that β-ionone significantly mitigated the build-up of malondialdehyde (MDA) and reactive oxygen species (ROS). It also modulated the contents of key membrane lipid components, including phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylinositol (PI), and phosphatidic acid (PA). Furthermore, β-ionone inhibited the activities of phospholipase D (PLD), lipase, and lipoxygenase (LOX), and at the same time downregulated the transcript levels of their corresponding genes. In terms of energy metabolism, β-ionone maintained a higher energy charge (EC) level and enhanced the activities of H + -ATPase, Ca 2+ -ATPase, succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), and cytochrome c oxidase (CCO), along with upregulating the transcript levels of related genes. These results indicate that β-ionone application may act as a promising approach to alleviate CI and extend the postharvest shelf life of peach fruit through the regulation of membrane lipid metabolism and energy metabolism.