Hydrogen sulfide alleviates chilling injury in peach fruit by maintaining cell structure integrity via regulating endogenous HS, antioxidant and cell wall metabolisms.

Effects of hydrogen sulfide (HS) on chilling injury (CI), HS, antioxidant and cell-wall metabolisms of refrigerated peaches treated with HS and hypotaurine (HT, HS scavenger) were investigated in present study. Results revealed that HS treatment enhanced endogenous HS content, which was associated with increased related HS synthase enzymes activities, while HT showed the opposite results. Moreover, HS treatment induced the accumulation of ascorbic acid, glutathione and the enhancement of antioxidant enzymes activities compared to control and HT, contributing to lower hydrogen peroxide content and superoxide radical production. Furthermore, HS suppressed the increase of cell-wall degradation enzymes accompanied by higher levels of water-insoluble pectin, 24% KOH-soluble hemicellulose and cellulose, while HT accelerated these components degradation. Therefore, results indicated that HS mitigated CI of refrigerated peaches by regulating HS, antioxidant and cell-wall metabolisms, maintaining higher HS and antioxidants contents, suppressing cell-wall degradation, thereby contributing to redox homeostasis maintenance and cell structure integrity.