Exogenous glutathione alleviates chilling injury in postharvest bell pepper by modulating the ascorbate-glutathione (AsA-GSH) cycle

We investigated the effect of exogenous glutathione (GSH) on chilling injury (CI) in postharvest bell pepper fruits stored at low temperature and explored the mechanism of this treatment from the perspective of the ascorbate-glutathione (AsA-GSH) cycle. Compared with the control, fruits treated with exogenous GSH before refrigeration displayed only slight CI symptoms and mitigated CI-induced cell damage after 10 d. Moreover, the treated peppers had lower lipid peroxidation product, H2O2, and O-2(-) content than those did the control. Glutathione treatment enhanced the ascorbate-glutathione cycle by upregulating CaAPX1, CaGR2, CaMDHAR1, and CaD-HAR1 and the antioxidant enzymes APX, GR, and MDHAR associated with the ascorbate-glutathione cycle. Glutathione treatment also increased ascorbate and glutathione concentrations. Taken together, our results showed that exogenous GSH treatment could alleviate CI in pepper fruits during cold storage by triggering the AsA-GSH cycle and improving antioxidant capacity.