Terpinen-4-ol, the main component of tea tree oil, controls postharvest decay of strawberry fruit. In this study, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabolomics was used to investigate global metabolic profiles in strawberries treated with terpinen-4-ol and stored at 20 °C for 3 d. Measurements showed higher levels of sucrose and fructose, and lower levels of α-d-glucose, β-d-glucose, and citric acid in terpinen-4-ol-treated fruit. Treatment also increased expression of FaSS and FaSPS mRNAs and decreased expression of FaAI. Terpinen-4-ol treatment maintained higher anthocyanin levels accompanied by increasing the expression of genes in the pentose phosphate, phenylpropanoid, and flavonoid pathways, and transcription factor MYB10. In addition, expression of FaSnRK1 was also increased in terpinen-4-ol-treated fruit. We conclude that terpinen-4-ol maintains strawberry fruit quality by regulating sucrose metabolism and anthocyanin biosynthesis, and that FaSnRK1 perceives the higher sucrose levels to induce anthocyanin accumulation in treated fruit.

茶树油的主要成分Terpinen-4-ol控制草莓果实采后的腐烂。在这项研究中，基于核磁共振（NMR）的代谢组学研究了用terpinen-4-ol处理并于20°C保存3 d的草莓的整体代谢谱。测量结果显示，经松油烯4醇处理的水果中蔗糖和果糖的含量较高，而α- d-葡萄糖，β- d-葡萄糖和柠檬酸的含量较低。治疗还增加了FaSS和FaSPS mRNA的表达，并降低了FaAI的表达。Terpinen-4-ol处理可保持较高的花色苷水平，并伴随着磷酸戊糖，苯丙烷和类黄酮途径以及转录因子MYB10中基因的表达增加。另外，在经萜品四醇处理的果实中，FaSnRK1的表达也增加。我们得出的结论是，terpinen-4-ol通过调节蔗糖代谢和花色苷的生物合成来维持草莓果实的品质，并且FaSnRK1感知到较高的蔗糖水平会诱导处理过的果实中花色苷的积累。