Pichia kudriavzevii retards fungal decay by influencing the fungal community succession during cherry tomato fruit storage

Abstract In this study, P. kudriavzevii was isolated and identified as an effective antagonistic yeast, which could significantly inhibit the rotting rate, weight loss, and delay the color change, with no effect on total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acid (TA), or firmness during cherry tomato storage. High-throughput sequencing was used to survey the effect of P. kudriavzevii on fungal community throughout cold storage. The results showed that the biological succession of predominant pathogens was disrupted by P. kudriavzevii. The abundance of Botrytis and Alternaria was higher in the control than upon P. kudriavzevii treatment at 28 d, but some yeast genera such as Naganishia, Wickerhamomyces, and Cutaneotrichosporon at 14 d, Pichia and Sporidiobolus at 21 d, and Cystofilobasidium at 28 d, had relatively higher abundances in P. kudriavzevii treatments than the control. Oddly, as an antagonist agent, P. kudriavzevii was not the dominant population, indicating that altering the course of succession of the fungal community may be an effective mechanism of antagonistic yeast. Furthermore, the total network correlation analysis of fungal community revealed that the community development was more dependent on similarities in function than on taxonomic relationships.