Abstract: Peaches are subject to flesh softening during postharvest storage and transport, which affects the storage life of the fruit and causes huge economic losses. Previous research has demonstrated that postharvest brassinolide treatment can maintain flesh firmness, ascorbic acid and soluble solids contents, and enhance disease resistance in peach fruits. This study assessed the influence of postharvest brassinolide treatment on the expression of key genes involved in cell wall degradation and the phenylpropanoid pathway in peach fruits by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The results showed that brassinolide dipping inhibited the gene expression of pectate lyase 1, polygalacturonase 21 and pectin methylesterase 1, and significantly enhanced the gene expression of peroxidase, cinnamoyl-CoA reductase, phenylalanine ammonia lyase and caffeoyl-CoA-O-methyltransferase 5 in peach fruits. It also increased the gene expression levels of chaleone synthase, chaleone isomerase, dihydroflavonol-4-reductase and flavanone 3-hydroxylase at the early stage of storage. These findings imply that brassinolide can suppress the expression of key genes involved in cell wall degradation and enhance the expression of key genes involved in the phenylpropanoid pathway, thereby delaying peach fruit softening and enhancing disease resistance.

Key words: brassinolide; peach fruit; phenylpropanoid pathway; cell wall degradation; softening