The number of isoperoxidases and the intensity of certain isozymes increased with increasing periods of stratification of pear (Pyrus communis cv. Bartlett) embryos. The presence of GA(3) or kinetin during stratification enhanced the activity of certain isoperoxidases, and these enhancements were blocked in the presence of ABA which by itself had an inhibitory effect. Enhancement in isoperoxida...

Varieties of the European pear (Pyrus communis) can produce trees with both red- and green-skinned fruits, such as the Max Red Bartlett (MRB) variety, although little is known about the mechanism behind this differential pigmentation. In this study, we investigated the pigmentation of MRB and its green-skinned sport (MRB-G). The results suggest that a reduction in anthocyanin concentration caus...

THE LANCET • Vol 358 • December 22/29, 2001 2155 The heart did not feature in European art until the later Middle Ages. The first illustration of a heart outside the anatomical literature occurred as late as the 13th century, in a French manuscript, written by an unknown poet and entitled Roman de la poire (Romance of the pear). This story takes its title from a scene in which the damsel offers...

A polygalacturonase (PG) was extracted and purified from decayed tissue of 'Anjou' pear fruit inoculated with Penicillium expansum. Ammonium sulfate precipitation, gel filtration, and cation exchange chromatography were used to purify the enzyme. Both chromatographic methods revealed a single peak corresponding to PG activity. PG enzyme activity from healthy and wounded pear tissue was undetect...

Black spot disease, which is caused by the Japanese pear pathotype of the filamentous fungus Alternaria alternata (Fries) Keissler, is one of the most harmful diseases in Japanese pear cultivation. We mapped a gene for susceptibility to black spot disease in the Japanese pear (Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai) cultivar 'Kinchaku' (Aki gene) at the top of linkage group 11, similar to the positions of the s...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of foliar application of boron and calcium on postharvest storage characteristics of Asian pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) fruit. This experiment was carried out in the experimental orchard of Asian pear at Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran. The treatments were two concentrations of boric acid (0% and 0.5%) and three concentrations of calcium chlo...

The aim of this study was to assess the bioactive compounds of apple and pear peel and pulp in vitro and their influence on plasma lipids and antioxidant potentials in vivo. The antioxidant potentials measured by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), beta-carotene bleaching (beta-carotene), and nitric oxide inhibition radical scavenging (NO) tests in apple peel and pulp were significantly highe...