Stimulatory involvement of abscisic acid in wound suberization of postharvest kiwifruit

Wound-induced suberization is an essentially protective healing process for fruit to reduce water loss and avoid infecting. However, cognate mechanisms that regulate this process are little known. To expand our knowledge of suberization induced by wounding, a wound-healing investigation together with metabolite profiling study was conducted in postharvest kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa). The development of suberization in wounded fruit was demonstrated by autofluorescence observation and toluidine blue staining at 1-4 day (d) after wounding. Activities of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), cinnamyl-alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) and peroxidase (POD) in wound-healing tissue were enhanced by abscisic acid (ABA). The constituent analysis of suberin including polyphenolics (SPP) and polyaliphatics (SPA) proved that exogenous ABA increased the content levels of total phenols, total flavonoids and alkanes, alkenes, alcohols, alkane acids, olefine acids, esters, glycerides and vitamin E in wound-healing tissue. Results suggested that ABA stimulated suberization through the activation of PAL, CAD and POD to accelerate wound-healing of wounded kiwifruit.