Recent developments in strawberry aroma: Essential aroma-active components and their formation mechanisms, influencing factors, and analytical technologies

Strawberries are valued for their sweet-sour taste, color, and aroma. Dynamic changes in aromatic compounds affect aroma characteristics across ripening, storage, and processing, often leading to aroma loss or deterioration. Revealing aroma formation mechanisms and regulatory strategies is crucial. This review integrates aroma identification techniques with multi-omics to systematically analyze aroma-active compounds in strawberries, elucidating their formation and transformation. It summarizes key influencing factors and advanced analytical methods, constructing a framework that links the chemical basis to regulatory pathways. Future research should prioritize the functional characterization of key genes and the identification of regulatory targets for expression, as well as the development of environmentally friendly and efficient preservation and processing technologies. These efforts aim to maximize the retention of natural aroma components, providing a scientific foundation for maintaining the characteristic aroma of strawberries and enhancing their overall quality.