Abstract: In the work, the effects of heat water treatment on the preservation and expression of genes involved in ethylene biosynthesis and ethylene receptors were detected by using strawberry fruits (Fragaria ananassa Duch. 'Toyonoka'). The results indicated that dipping fruits in 45℃ heat-water for 15 min significantly inhibited anthocyanin accumulation, weight loss, decay index, respiratory rate and ethylene release rate during fruit storage, which led to fruits containing higher levels of the soluble solids, the titrable acids and the soluble proteins, although the VC content was significantly lower than control. Therefore, heat-water treatment was in general helpful for strawberry fruits to prolong the storage life at low temperature. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed that heat water treatment significantly inhibited gene expression of ACS, ACO, ERS1 and ETR1 during the storage period, although it had no effect on genes expression of EIN1, which maintained a high level during the whole storage. These results suggested that strawberry senescence delaying by heat-water treatment was possibly related with its inhibition on ethylene biosynthesis and regulation.

Key words: Strawberry, heat-water treatment, storage, ethylene, gene expression, RT-PCR