Relationships among expression of six representative genes, bacterial multiplication, color changes of fresh cut cabbages during storage with focus on accumulated storage temperature

Fresh cut cabbages are popular in Japanese cuisine. However, the quality of such cabbages declines rapidly. This study examined the potential of applying gene expression analysis for quality assessment of fresh cut cabbages during storage at different environmental conditions. Fresh cut samples were stored at temperatures of 0, 10, and 20 degrees C. At different time points, bacterial multiplication, color changes, and expression of six genes in the stored samples were evaluated, with a focus on the accumulated storage temperature. The bacterial population and color parameter of all the samples changed with increasing accumulated storage temperature value, irrespective of the actual storage temperature. Further, expression of the gene endoglucanase showed high correlation with the accumulated storage temperature values (R-2 > 0.95), whereas that of PR protein was highly correlated with the multiplication of general bacteria (R-2 > 0.99). Expression of the other genes was not stable under different storage temperature conditions. Our results indicate that at least partial assessment and estimation of quality changes of fresh cut cabbages under different storage conditions can be conducted by gene expression analysis.