Kiwifruit [Actinidia deliciosa (A. Chev.) C.F. Liang et A.R. Ferguson, cv. "Hayward"] is classified as climacteric fruit and the initiation of endogenous ethylene production following harvest is induced by exogenous ethylene or chilling exposure. To understand the biological basis of this "dilemma," kiwifruit ripening responses were characterized at 20°C following treatments with exogenous ethy...

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) fruit is a model to study molecular basis of fleshy fruit development and ripening. We profiled gene expression during fruit development (immature green and mature green fruit) and ripening (breaker stage onwards) program to obtain a global perspective of genes whose expression is modulated at each stage of fruit development and ripening. A custom made cDNA macroar...

To evaluate the ripening-dependent changes in phytonutrients, seven commercial cultivars (two general and five cherry) of tomatoes were cultivated under greenhouse conditions. Fruits were harvested at breaker, turning, pink, light red, and red stages of each cultivar, and antioxidant contents, color attributes, and antioxidant activities were measured. During ripening process, lycopene content ...

Fruit ripening is one of the developmental processes accompanying seed development. The tomato is a well-known model for studying fruit ripening and development, and the disassembly of primary cell walls and the middle lamella, such as through pectin de-methylesterified by pectin methylesterase (PE) and depolymerization by polygalacturonase (PG), is generally accepted to be one of the major cha...

and Implications Changes in adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) and hormone sensitive lipases (HSL) in subcutaneous adipose tissue of Xuanwei ham at different ripening stages were studied. Green hams were salted for 40 d and then ripened in a ventilated chamber for 15 months. Adipose triglyceride lipase and HSL could be detected during the whole ripening period of Xuanwei ham, but their protein ...

Fruits can be divided into two groups according to the regulatory mechanisms underlying their ripening process. Climacteric fruit, such as tomato, apple, pear, and melon are characterized by a ripening-associated increase in respiration and in ethylene production, the phytohormone ethylene being the major trigger and coordinator of the ripening process. By contrast, nonclimacteric fruits, such ...

Strawberries (Fragaria×ananassa) are false fruits the ripening of which follows the non-climacteric pathway. The role played by a C-type MADS-box gene [SHATTERPROOF-like (FaSHP)] in the ripening of strawberries has been studied by transiently modifying gene expression through either over-expression or RNA-interference-mediated down-regulation. The altered expression of the FaSHP gene caused a c...

Although the alternative oxidase (AOX) has been proposed to play a role in fruit development, the function of AOX in fruit ripening is unclear. To gain further insight into the role of AOX in tomato fruit ripening, transgenic tomato plants 35S-AOX1a and 35S-AOX-RNAi were generated. Tomato plants with reduced LeAOX levels exhibited retarded ripening; reduced carotenoids, respiration, and ethylen...

Climacteric and non-climacteric fruits have traditionally been viewed as representing two distinct programmes of ripening associated with differential respiration and ethylene hormone effects. In climacteric fruits, such as tomato and banana, the ripening process is marked by increased respiration and is induced and co-ordinated by ethylene, while in non-climacteric fruits, such as strawberry a...

Abscisic acid (ABA) plays an important role in fruit development and ripening. Here, three NCED genes encoding 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED, a key enzyme in the ABA biosynthetic pathway) and three CYP707A genes encoding ABA 8'-hydroxylase (a key enzyme in the oxidative catabolism of ABA) were identified in tomato fruit by tobacco rattle virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS). Quantitati...