Different response to 1-methylcyclopropene in two cultivars of Chinese pear fruit with contrasting softening characteristics

In this study, the change in softening and its related genes expression under influence of 500 nl L-1 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) was assessed in the two Chinese pear fruit, ‘Jingbaili’ (Pyrus ussuriensis Maxim) and ‘Yali’ (Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd), which exhibit different softening characteristics. ‘Jingbaili’ pear fruit softened rapidly after harvest, and was strongly inhibited by 1-MCP. In contrast, there was no obvious change of firmness compared to the control after 1-MCP treatment in ‘Yali’ pear fruit. The respiration and ethylene production rates were reduced by 1-MCP at early storage in both two cultivars. ‘Jingbaili’ pear fruit exhibited dramatically increased expression levels of the softening-related genes, i.e., polygalacturonase1 (PG1), polygalacturonase2 (PG2), β-Galactosidase4 (GAL4), α-arabinofuranosidase1 (ARF1) and α-arabinofuranosidase2 (ARF2), and these genes’ expression levels were significantly decreased by 1-MCP treatment. In contrast, ‘Yali’ pear fruit showed lower expression levels of the above-mentioned genes, as well as a relatively smaller inhibition effect by 1-MCP treatment before day 27. These results suggest that ‘Jingbaili’ pear fruit are more sensitive to 1-MCP/ethylene than ‘Yali’ pear fruit during ripening.