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CHILLING INJURY. A REVIEW OF POSSIBLE MECHANISMS
Author(s) -
PARKIN K. L.,
MARANGONI A.,
JACKMAN R. L.,
YADA R. Y.,
STANLEY D. W.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of food biochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.507
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1745-4514
pISSN - 0145-8884
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-4514.1989.tb00389.x
Subject(s) - lipid peroxidation , membrane fluidity , membrane , enzyme , chemistry , calcium , biophysics , biochemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , medicine
Chilling injury (CI) is a physiological defect of plants and their products that results in reduced quality and loss of product utilization following exposure to low but nonfreezing temperatures. To design more effective control strategies and maximize shelf‐life, it is necessary to develop an understanding of the biochemical mechanism(s) responsible for the initiation of CI. Despite considerable efforts in this field of study, there is no general agreement on the cause or nature of CI, or even the primary event(s) triggering low temperature damage.The first unified theory to explain CI was founded on low temperature induced membrane lipid phase transitions leading to a loss of membrane integrity and physiological dysfunction. This was modified to account for the observation that the level of certain high melting phospholipids appears to be related to the chill sensitivity of many plant tissues. Membranes and changes in their physical characteristics are further implicated as having a role in CI by the discovery that chilling stress evokes an elaborate membrane retailoring response that leads to increased fluidity at reduced temperatures.Others have postulated that CI results from the direct effect of reduced temperatures on enzymes or the indirect effect of membrane perturbations on intrinsic enzymes. The redistribution of cellular calcium has most recently been advanced as the primary transducer of CI. The weight of this theory rests on the role of calcium as a secondary messenger for many cellular functions. In this review it is also speculated that lipid peroxidation may have a role in the development of irreversible injury during low temperature stress. Its effect would be similar to the senescent processes of free radical damage to tissue and progressive membrane rigidification.