Gavicho Uarrota, V., Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Escuela de Agronomía, Calle San Francisco s/n, La Palma, Quillota, Chile; Fuentealba, C., Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Escuela de Alimentos, Waddington 716, Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile; Hernández, I., Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Escuela de Agronomía, Calle San Francisco s/n, La Palma, Quillota, Chile; Defilippi-Bruzzone, B., Unidad de Postcosecha, Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias INIA, La Platina, Santiago, Chile; Meneses, C., Centro de Biotecnología Vegetal, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile, FONDAP Center for Genome Regulation, Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile; Campos-Vargas, R., Centro de Biotecnología Vegetal, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile;  Hertog, M., Division of Mechatronics, Biostatistics and Sensors (MeBioS), Department of Biosystems, KU Leuven, Belgium; Carpentier, S., Division of Crop Biotechnics, Department of Biosystems, KU Leuven, Belgium, SYBIOMA: Facility for Systems Biology Mass Spectrometry, Leuven, Belgium; Poblete-Echeverría, C., Department of Viticulture and Oenology, Faculty of AgriSciences, Stellenbosch University, Matieland 7602, Stellenbosch, South Africa; Pedreschi, R., Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Escuela de Agronomía, Calle San Francisco s/n, La Palma, Quillota, Chile

Ripening heterogeneity of Hass avocados results in inconsistent quality fruit delivered to the triggered and ready to eat markets. This research aimed to understand the effect of a heat shock (HS) prior to controlled atmosphere (CA) storage on the reduction of ripening heterogeneity. HS prior to CA storage reduces more drastically the ripening heterogeneity in middle season fruit. Via correlation network analysis we show the different metabolomics networks between HS and CA. High throughput proteomics revealed 135 differentially expressed proteins unique to middle season fruit triggered by HS. Further integration of metabolomics and proteomics data revealed that HS reduced the glycolytic throughput and induced protein degradation to deliver energy for the alternative ripening pathways. L-isoleucine, L-valine, L-aspartic and ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase involved in protein degradation were positively correlated to HS samples. Our study provides new insights into the effectiveness of HS in synchronizing ripening of Hass avocados. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd