Mechanical stress elicits kiwifruit ripening changes in gene expression and metabolic status

The present work characterizes the impact of mechanical stress in Hayward kiwifruit at harvest as well as following short (2 weeks) or long (12 weeks) cold storage. Using several experimental approaches, we documented that the applied compression-imposed stress conditions and induced the fruit ripening process at room temperatureTranscriptomic data also disclosed numerous genes, which are mainly involved in sugar metabolism, TCA cycle, cell wall, ethylene and hormones signaling, that were affected by mechanical stress in pericarp and especially in white core tissue. We detected potential TFs, including 13 bZIP TF, bZIP53 WRKY40 and GATA17, that involved in compression stress while meta-data analysis enabled identification of several TFs that regulated by both compression and wounding in kiwifruits. This work provides a first characterization of the compression-affected changes in fruit tissues that offers insights into molecular basis of mechanical stress in kiwifruit.