The hormone ethylene regulates many aspects of plant growth and development, including fruit ripening. In transgenic tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) plants, antisense inhibition of ethylene biosynthetic genes results in inhibited or delayed ripening. The dominant tomato mutant, Never-ripe (Nr), is insensitive to ethylene and fruit fail to ripen. The Nr phenotype results from mutation of the et...

Sweet cherry, a non-climacteric fruit, is usually cold-stored during post-harvest to prevent over-ripening. The aim of the study was to evaluate the role of abscisic acid (ABA) on fruit growth and ripening of this fruit, considering as well its putative implication in over-ripening and effects on quality. We measured the endogenous concentrations of ABA during the ripening of sweet cherries (Pr...

Plant sphingolipids are involved in the building of the matrix of cell membranes and in signaling pathways of physiological processes and environmental responses. However, information regarding their role in fruit development and ripening, a plant-specific process, is unknown. The present study seeks to determine whether and, if so, how sphingolipids are involved in fleshy-fruit development and...

Auxin has been shown to modulate the fruit ripening process. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying auxin regulation of fruit ripening are still not clear. Illumina RNA sequencing was performed on mature green cherry tomato fruit 1 and 7 days after auxin treatment, with untreated fruit as a control. The results showed that exogenous auxin maintained system 1 ethylene synthesis and delayed...

A cDNA clone (Ban17), encoding a protein homologous to pectate lyase, has been isolated from a cDNA library from climacteric banana fruit by means of differential screening. Northern analysis showed that Ban17 mRNA is first detected in early climacteric fruit, reaches a steady-state maximum at the climacteric peak, and declines thereafter in overripe fruit. Accumulation of the Ban17 transcript ...

In a globalized economy, the control of fruit ripening is of strategic importance because excessive softening limits shelf life. Efforts have been made to reduce fruit softening in transgenic tomato through the suppression of genes encoding cell wall-degrading proteins. However, these have met with very limited success. N-glycans are reported to play an important role during fruit ripening, alt...

Ethylene profoundly stimulates the growth and ripening of fig fruits if applied during the second half of growth period II, the slow growth phase of the characteristic double sigmoid growth curve (7, 9). Although ethylene-treated fruits ripened 2 to 3 weeks early, within 6 days from inception of treatment, they were indistinguishable from ripe, untreated fruits (7). Moreover, ethylene induced a...

The role of ethylene in plant development is mostly inferred from its exogenous application. usage mutants affecting biosynthesis proffers a better alternative to decipher role. In tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), 1-aminocyclopropane carboxylic acid synthase2 (ACS2) key enzyme regulating ripening-specific biosynthesis. We characterised two contrasting acs2 mutants; acs2-1 overproduces ethylene, h...

Introduction The role of ethylene in regulating the expression of Tomato fruit ripening involves complex gene expression three lipoxygenase (LOX) genes TomloxA, TomloxB and and biochemical changes which ultimately result in alteraTomloxC during fruit ripening has been investigated. tions to the physical properties of the fruit giving rise to The study used a combination of low-ethylene fruit ch...