Nitric oxide (NO) is a short-life and free radical molecule involved in a wide range of cellular, physiological and stressful processes in higher plants. In recent years it has been observed that exogenous NO application can palliate adverse damages against abiotic and biotic stresses. Conversely, there is accumulating information indicating that endogenous NO participates significantly in the mechanism of modulation of the ripening in climacteric and non-climacteric fruits. Even more, when NO is exogenously applied, it can mediate beneficial effects during ripening and postharvest storage being one of the main effects the increase of antioxidant systems. Consequently, NO could be a promising biotechnological tool to improve crops through ameliorating nutritional indexes and to alleviate damages during fruit ripening and postharvest management. Thus, this approach should be complementary to previous strategies to allow preserving the quality and healthiness of fruits with a view of enhancing their added value. The present mini-review aims to provide an overview of NO biochemistry in plants and updated information on the relevance of NO in fruit ripening and postharvest stages with a view to its biotechnological applications.

一氧化氮 (NO) 是一种生命周期短的自由基分子，涉及高等植物中广泛的细胞、生理和应激过程。近年来，已经观察到外源 NO 应用可以减轻对非生物和生物胁迫的不利损害。相反，有越来越多的信息表明内源性 NO 显着参与了更年期和非更年期果实的成熟调节机制。更重要的是，当外源施用 NO 时，它可以在成熟和收获后储存过程中发挥有益作用，这是增加抗氧化系统的主要影响之一。因此，NO 可能是一种很有前途的生物技术工具，可以通过改善营养指标来改善作物，并减轻果实成熟和采后管理过程中的损害。因此，这种方法应该是对先前策略的补充，以保持水果的质量和健康，以提高其附加值。本小型综述旨在提供植物中 NO 生物化学的概述，以及关于 NO 在果实成熟和收获后阶段相关性的最新信息，以期其生物技术应用。