| Over the last two decades hydrogen sulfide （H2S） has emerged as an importantgaseous mediator in animal cells and tissues. H2S is a gaseous signal molecule witha wide range of biological activities and is also indispensable for normal plantdevelopment being implicated in plant defense, guard cell movement, rootorganogenesis and cut flower senescence, but little is known whether H2S isinvolved in the ripening and senescence of fresh-cut vegetables and fruits. In thispaper, pear （Pyrus pyrifolia） slices were fumigated with H2S gas released by theH2S donor sodium hydrosulfide （NaHS）. We show that H2S donor treatment prolongthe shelf life of fresh-cut pear slices in a dose-dependent manner at an optimalconcentration of2.0mmol/L. Further investigation showed that treatment of pearslices with the H2S donor significantly decreased the production of reactive oxygenspecies （ROS） such as hydrogen peroxide （H2O2） and superoxide radicals （.O2-）.H2S donor treatment of pear slices also decreased the activity of lipoxygenase（LOX） and maintained lower levels of malondialdehyde （MDA）, an indicator ofoxidative damage to cells. The activities of catalase （CAT）, ascorbate peroxidase（APX） and guaiacol peroxidase （POD） were significantly up-regulated by H2Sdonor treatment. Moreover, H2S maintained higher levels of reducing sugars andsoluble proteins in pear slices. The present study implies that H2S is involved inprolonging shelf life of fresh pear slices by acting as an antioxidant.In addition, In order to inhibit the soft rot of sweet potato and pear，pear andsweet potato were fumigated with H2S gas released by the H2S donor sodiumhydrosulfide （NaHS） in this paper. We show that the soft rot of sweet potato andpears were mainly infected by fungal infection, and further investigation showedthat treatment of pear and sweet potato with the H2S donor significantly decreasedthe production of soft rot pathogen and prolonged the shelf life of sweet potato andpears. |
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