Abstract

Refrigeration is the most effective strategy to maintain the shelf‐life and quality of horticultural products; however its application is limited in cold‐sensitive species such as tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L). The storage of tomato fruit at chilling temperatures (below 12.5°C), followed by rewarming, may trigger the development of postharvest chilling injury (PCI), which comprises a series of changes at physiological, biochemical and molecular levels, that reduce fruit quality and increase postharvest losses. There are two related aims of this project. The first is to identify changes in the abundance of transcripts, marker proteins, and metabolites in different fruit tissues, during the early stages of postharvest chilling. PCI has been extensively studied; however the spatial and temporal evolution of its early events is still poorly understood and may have contributed to the lack of long‐term solutions to this disorder. The second aim is to translate knowledge of cold tolerance genes discovered in Arabidopsis thaliana, to determine if they may also have a similar role in the tomato PCI response pathway. Analyzing transgenic fruit ectopically expressing such a gene target may provide answers on the evolutionary relatedness of PCI and common chilling injury experienced by plants in the field. The present work therefore attempts to improve our understanding of PCI and to potentially identify targets for manipulation.