X-Message-Number: 24126
Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 20:29:09 -0700 (PDT)
From: Doug Skrecky <>
Subject: methyl jasmonate versus chilling injury

(A potential additive to vitrification solutions?)

Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2004 Jan 16;313(3):694-701.
Methyl jasmonate treatments reduce chilling injury and activate the
defense response of guava fruits.
  Tropical fruits cannot be stored at low temperatures due to the chilling
injury phenomena. With the goal of reducing the chilling injury, we
tested 10(-4) and 10(-5) M of methyl jasmonate (MJ) treatment before the
storage of red and white cultivars of guava fruits at 5 degrees C for up
to 15 days plus two days at 20 degrees C. Every five days, we evaluated
chilling injury index, ion leakage percentage, vitamin C, sugars, total
phenols, and the activity of the enzymes lipoxygenase (LOX) and
phenylalanine-ammonia lyase (PAL). We found that methyl jasmonate
treatments reduce the chilling injury index and the ion leakage
percentage. Furthermore, MJ did not affect vitamin C, chlorophyll, and
total phenols. MJ increased sugar content, PAL, and LOX activities. We
concluded that MJ reduces chilling injury and activates the fruit defense
response as indicated by the behavior of total phenols and the increase in
sugar content, PAL, and LOX activities.

Planta. 2002 Apr;214(6):895-901. Epub 2001 Dec 12.
Jasmonate and salicylate induce the expression of pathogene
sis-related-protein genes and increase resistance to chilling injury in
tomato fruit.
  Treatment of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L. cv. Beefstake) fruit
with low concentrations of (0.01 mM) methyl jasmonate (MeJA) or methyl
salicylate (MeSA) substantially enhanced their resistance to chilling
temperature and decreased the incidence of decay during low-temperature
storage. While studying the expression of pathogenesis-related (PR)
protein genes, different accumulation patterns of PR-protein mRNAs in
tomato fruit were observed. MeJA substantially increased the accumulation
of PR-2b transcripts encoding intracellular beta-1,3-glucanase and
enhanced the mRNA levels of PR-2a and PR-3b encoding extracellular
beta-1,3-glucanase and intracellular chitinase, respectively. MeSA
substantially increased accumulation of PR-2b and PR-3a mRNAs and
slightly increased PR-3b mRNA accumulation. Chilling temperature did not
appreciably enhance the accumulation of PR-protein mRNAs in
untreated fruit. However, the accumulation of PR-3b mRNAs in MeSA-treated
fruit was enhanced following low-temperature storage. Transcript
abundance of catalase genes also was investigated in different pretreated
tomatoes. The accumulation of cat1 mRNA was increased substantially by
MeJA, while it was reduced by MeSA treatment. These results suggest that
the pre-treatment of tomato fruit with MeSA or MeJA induces the synthesis
of some stress proteins, such as PR proteins, which leads to increased
chilling tolerance and resistance to pathogens, thereby decreasing the
incidence of decay.

J Agric Food Chem. 2000 Feb;48(2):515-9.
Methyl jasmonate reduces chilling injury and maintains postharvest
quality of mango fruit.
  Exposure of mango (Mangifera indica cv. Tommy Atkins) fruit to methyl
jasmonate (MJ) vapors (10(-)(4) M) for 24 h at 25 degrees C reduced
chilling injury during subsequent storage for 21 days at 7 degrees C and
after 5 days of shelf life at 20 degrees C. The chilling tolerance
induced by MJ was positively correlated with the reduction in the percent
ion leakage of mango tissue. The overall quality of MJ-treated fruit was
also better than that of control fruit. MJ treatment increased the total
soluble solids but did not affect titratable acidity or pH. MJ also did
not change the normal climacteric rise in respiration, water loss, and
softening rates. The efficacy of MJ to reduce chilling injury and decay
of mango could be related to the tolerance induced at low temperature.

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