Role of chlorine dioxide and chloroxyanions residue in yellowing alleviation of ready-to-eat broccoli: Insights from transcriptomic evidence

Chlorine dioxide (ClO₂) unexpectedly contributed to the yellowing alleviation of ready-to-eat broccoli. Herein, we employed phenotypic and transcriptomic analyses for the first time to investigate the molecular mechanism of yellowing alleviation in the presence of ClO₂. In our study, ClO₂ and chloroxyanions were mainly distributed in floret bud and the content of ClO₂ residue in the bud was over 50 % higher than that in stem and pedicel. Besides, the correlation analysis represented the yellowing process correlated strongly with the ClO₃^- residue in ready-to-eat broccoli. Further transcriptomic analyses and genes expression validation demonstrated that the endogenous ethylene biosynthesis in broccoli was noticeably inhibited by intrusive ClO₂ and chloroxyanions. Ethylene biosynthesis was supposed to associate with chlorophyll degradation via the expression of ethylene-responsive transcription factor (ERF) in broccoli senescence based on transcriptomic data. This study not only carries out the novel and systematical investigation of ClO₂ distribution, but also provides the deeper understanding of the quality maintenance of ready-to-eat produce.