The mechanism of protective effect on postharvest blackberry fruit treated with ferulic acid and natamycin jointly using transcriptomics and proteomics methods

The results of previous studies have shown that the combined treatment of ferulic acid and natamycin has a good effect on maintaining the quality of blackberries. However, the molecular mechanism by which increasing firmness and quality of blackberry fruits induced by blackberry preservation has not been elucidated. Therefore, the objective of the work was to detect the metabolic changes of blackberry treated with ferulic acid and natamycin jointly using RNA-Seq and iTRAQ protein quantification methods. The combined ferulic acid and natamycin treatment compared to the control group contained 439 and 388 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially expressed proteins (DEPs), respectively, of which 414 DEGs and 387 DEPs were down-regulated. They were mainly catalytic activity and binding genes and proteins, and most involved in metabolic process and cellular process, molecular function of organelle and cell part. It was also revealed that combined treatment of ferulic acid and natamycin could inhibit the carbohydrate metabolic, energy metabolism bioprocess, amino acids biosynthesis, weaken the respiration, and improve its resistance to stress, resulting in the fruit defense capability, further extended shelf life of fresh blackberry.