Effect of Intermittent Warming on Aroma-Related Esters of ‘Nanguo’ Pears Through Regulation of Unsaturated Fatty Acid Synthesis After Cold Storage

Cold storage can effectively delay the ripening of ‘Nanguo’ pears (Pyrus ussuriensis Maxim.). However, the aroma-related esters of ‘Nanguo’ pears decreased after cold storage. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of intermittent warming (IW) treatment on the formation of aroma-related esters and unsaturated fatty acid synthesis from cold stored pears. IW-treated pears were exposed to 20 ± 1 °C for 1 day every 20 days during storage at 0 ± 0.5 °C, every 21 days was a cycle and a total of 90 days. The pears in control group were stored at 0 ± 0.5 °C for 90 days. After this 90-day storage, both groups of pears (control and IW-treated) were transferred to a shelf life of 12 days at room temperature. The results showed that, compared with the pears in control group, the productions of aroma-related esters and the expression levels of PuLOX1, PuADH3, and PuAAT1 in IW-treated pears were significantly higher during the shelf life (P < 0.05). At the same time, IW-treated pears maintained significantly higher contents of linoleic acid and linolenic acid (P < 0.05), which were precursors of aroma compounds. We also found that the expression of PuFAD2 and PuFAD3 had significant positive correlation with the contents of unsaturated fatty acids (P < 0.05). The significantly higher expression levels of PuFAD2 and PuFAD3 in IW-treated pears may have played an important role in the improvement of ester contents (P < 0.05). It could be inferred that IW treatment had an impact on the aroma-related esters of cold-stored ‘Nanguo’ pears through regulation of unsaturated fatty acid synthesis.