The present study investigated how different storage conditions affect antioxidant levels in three scab-resistant and powdery mildew-tolerant apple cultivars. The contents of carotenoids, along with free and glycosylated phenolic acids, were quantified in harvested apples and apples stored in boxes with controlled atmospheric conditions (1.2% O₂ and 2.2% CO₂) and temperature (1 °C), boxes with regulated temperature (1 °C) and storage rooms with a temperature between 1 and 4 °C.

Autophagy is an evolutionary conserved catabolic process deemed to maintain or restore cellular and organismal homeostasis. In plants, basal autophagy is essential for growth and development, it is required for nutrient remobilization during senescence and nutrient deficiency, for removal of organelles and macromolecules formed during plant development or damaged by environmental stresses.

Phenolic compounds (phenylpropanoids with an aromatic ring bearing one or more hydroxyl groups and various other substituents) are produced by plants as secondary metabolites, ranging from simple monomers to very large polymers. Due to their antioxidant activity they play crucial roles in plant defences against both biotic and abiotic stressors, moreover they are an important component of animal diet and they are highly beneficial for human health.

Phenolic compounds play important roles in plant defences against both biotic and abiotic stressors, and many in crop plants are highly beneficial for human health, but their quantities and profiles are influenced by numerous factors. Thus, the purpose of this study was to quantify free and glycosylated phenolic acids in apples (important sources of beneficial phenolics) in the course of fruit development, at harvest and during 5 months of storage.

Frequent duplications of the FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) gene across various taxonomic lineages resulted in FT paralogs with floral repressor function, whereas others duplicates maintained their floral-promoting role. The FT gene has been confirmed as the inducer of photoperiodic flowering in most angiosperms analyzed to date.