New insights into in mycotoxins production in Alternaria infected apple during postharvest storage

As an apple fruit rot disease related fungus, Alternaria spp. could bring severe hazardous risk to apple fruits during postharvest storage. In this research, cold treatment is investigated for inhibition of Alternaria infection and related mycotoxins production during postharvest storage of apple. Morphology results show that cold treatment could inhibit Alternaria rot in inoculated apple samples. Alternariol Monomethyl Ether (AME), Alternariol (AOH), and Tenuazonic Acid (TEA) are the major mycotoxins during room storage temperature at 25 °C, while only AOH is detected after 30 d at 4 °C storage. The results revealed that room temperature could bring hazardous risk while toxic risks might still exist during cold storage. Metabolites of Alternaria mycotoxins are also identified in this work with metabolic pathways of glucose conjugation, hydrogenation reduction, oxidation, and dehydrogenation reaction. Cold storage treatment could lead to down-regulation of nature products in inoculated apples, including all five target Alternaria mycotoxins. This research proposed new insights into mycotoxins production in Alternaria infected apple during postharvest storage process, which will be benefit for better understanding of postharvest storage and safety control of fruits.