Changes in secondary metabolites, organic acids and soluble sugars during the development of plum fruit cv. ‘Furongli’ (Prunus salicina Lindl)

Abstract BACKGROUND Organic acids, sugars and pigments are key components that determine the taste and flavor of plum fruit. However, metabolism of organic acid and sugar is not fully understood during the development of plum fruit cv. ‘Furongli’. RESULTS Mature fruit of ‘Furongli’ has the highest content of anthocyanins and the lowest content of total phenol compounds and flavonoids. Malate is the predominant organic acid anion in ‘Furongli’ fruit, followed by citrate and isocitrate. Glucose was the predominant sugar form, followed by fructose and sucrose. Correlation analysis indicated that malate content increased with increasing phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) activity and decreasing nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide–malate dehydrogenase (NAD‐MDH) activity. Citrate and isocitrate content increased with increasing PEPC and aconitase (ACO) activities, respectively. Both acid invertase and neutral invertase had higher activities at the early stage than later stage of fruit development. Fructose content decreased with increasing phosphoglucoisomerase (PGI) activity, whereas glucose content increased with decreasing hexokinase (HK) activity. CONCLUSION Dynamics in organic acid anions were not solely controlled by a single enzyme but regulated by the integrated activity of enzymes such as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate–malic enzyme (NADP‐ME), NAD‐ME, PEPC, ACO and NADP–isocitrate dehydrogenase. Sugar metabolism enzymes such as PGI, invertase and HK may play vital roles in the regulation of individual sugar metabolic processes. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry