Comprehensive insight into an amino acid metabolic network in postharvest horticultural products: A review.

Amino acid (AA) metabolism plays a vital role in the central metabolism of plants. In addition to protein biosynthesis, AAs are involved in secondary metabolite biosynthesis, signal transduction, stress response, defense against pathogens, flavor formation, and so on. Besides the aforementioned functions, AAs can be degraded into precursors or intermediates of the tricarboxylic acid cycle to substitute respiratory substrates and restore energy homeostasis, as well as can directly act as signal molecules or be involved in the regulation of plant signals to delay senescence of postharvest horticultural products (PHPs). AA metabolism and its role in plants growth have been clarified; however, only a few studies about their roles exist on the postharvest preservation of fruit and vegetables. This study aimed to review the potential functions of various AAs by comparing the difference in AA metabolism in postharvest stage and then discussed the crosstalk of AA metabolism and energy metabolism, target of rapamycin/sucrose nonfermenting-related kinase 1 signaling, and secondary metabolism. Finally, the roles and effect mechanism of several exogenous AAs in the preservation of PHPs were highlighted. This review provided a comprehensive insight into the AA metabolism network in PHPs. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.