From Cuticle Biology to Storage Potential: Recent Insights on Fruit Surface as Related to Postharvest Quality

Fruit quality and storage potential are shaped by a complex interplay between genotype, developmental stage, preharvest conditions, and postharvest handling. As fruit ripen and enter storage, changes occurring at the fruit surface and cuticle, in cell-wall composition, and in metabolic and defense pathways strongly influence firmness, appearance, susceptibility to pathogens, chilling tolerance, and overall shelf-life. The cuticle, as the outermost protective layer, plays a central role in regulating water loss, gas exchange, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stress, yet its contribution to postharvest performance is still not fully understood across species and cultivars. Advances in molecular, biochemical, and imaging approaches now offer new opportunities to connect fruit surface biology with quality retention and storage outcomes in economically important horticultural crops.This Research Topic aims to bring together recent advances and new perspectives on the biological and technological factors that determine fruit quality and postharvest resilience, with particular attention to the role of the fruit cuticle and surface biology in storage potential. Despite growing interest in postharvest physiology, the mechanistic links between cuticle composition, structure and permeability, and outcomes such as firmness retention, water loss, decay resistance, and chilling tolerance remain fragmented across the literature. Our goal is to provide an integrated collection connecting fruit surface traits with ripening, cell-wall metabolism, and storage performance, while also welcoming studies on complementary preharvest and postharvest factors that influence quality retention. By combining physiological, molecular, biochemical, and applied perspectives, this Research Topic seeks to advance the scientific understanding needed to reduce postharvest losses, extend shelf-life, and support the long-term sustainability of the horticultural supply chain.We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Mini-Reviews, and Perspectives covering:• Fruit cuticle and epidermal composition, structure, development, and function• Cutin, wax, and surface lipid biosynthesis during fruit growth and ripening• Cuticle permeability, water loss, gas exchange, and dehydration• Fruit surface traits, including gloss, cracking, shrivelling, and mechanical protection• Links between the cuticle, cell wall metabolism, firmness, texture, and fruit quality• Cuticle changes during fruit maturation, ripening, senescence, and storage• Chilling injury, temperature stress, and other abiotic stresses affecting postharvest quality• Fruit-surface interactions with pathogens, microorganisms, and decay processes• Effects of cultivar, genotype, irrigation, nutrition, and preharvest conditions on storage performance• Calcium treatments, edible coatings, packaging, controlled-atmosphere storage, and other postharvest technologies• Omics, imaging, spectroscopy, phenotyping, and non-destructive methods for evaluating fruit surface and storage quality• Relationships between surface biology, nutritional quality, consumer acceptance, shelf-life, and postharvest losses• Studies connecting fundamental fruit physiology with practical strategies to improve storage potential and quality retention Topic editors: Isabel Lara, Hua Huang Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/87161/from-cuticle-biology-to-storage-potential-recent-insights-on-fruit-surface-as-related-to-postharvest-quality