DNA methylation is a conserved epigenetic mark important for genome integrity, development, and environmental responses in plants and mammals. Active DNA demethylation in plants is initiated by a family of 5-mC DNA glycosylases/lyases (i.e., DNA demethylases). Recent reports suggested a role of active DNA demethylation in fruit ripening in tomato. In this study, we generated loss-of-function mu...

Avocado (Persea americana Mill.) fruit is a valuable product and notorious for the difficulties encountered in determining quality. Typically the degree of ripeness of many climacteric fruits, such as avocado, is measured by assessing flesh firmness. The aim of the presented work was to elucidate the temporal and spatial changes in texture, biochemistry and micro-structure in different avocado ...

Genomic and transcriptomic data on kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) in public databases are very limited despite its nutritional and economic value. Previously, we have constructed and sequenced nine fruit RNA-Seq libraries of A. chinensis "Hongyang" at immature, mature, and postharvest ripening stages of fruit development, and generated over 66.2 million paired-end and 24.4 million single-end r...

Although it is common practice to use hematoxylin as the source of dye, it is not itself the actual dye and it has to be oxidized to hematein, which is a dye, before it can be used. This process is called ripening, and can be accomplished in two distinct ways. The ripening is usually accomplished with chemical oxidizing agents, but is sometimes accomplished by atmospheric oxygen over time. Hema...

Plant embryos can survive years in a desiccated, quiescent state within seeds. In many species, seeds are dormant and unable to germinate at maturity. They acquire the capacity to germinate through a period of dry storage called after-ripening (AR), a biological process that occurs at 5-15% moisture when most metabolic processes cease. Because stored transcripts are among the first proteins tra...

Fruit ripening is a complex developmental process responsible for the transformation of the seed-containing organ into a tissue attractive to seed dispersers and agricultural consumers. The coordinated regulation of the different biochemical pathways necessary to achieve this change receives considerable research attention. The MADS-box transcription factor RIPENING INHIBITOR (RIN) is an essent...

We investigated the characteristics of ethylene biosynthesis associated with ripening in banana (Musa sp. [AAA group, Cavendish subgroup] cv Grand Nain) fruit. MA-ACS1 encoding 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) synthase in banana fruit was the gene related to the ripening process and was inducible by exogenous ethylene. At the onset of the climacteric period in naturally ripened fruit...

The role of auxin in ripening strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa) fruits has been restricted to the early stages of development where the growth of the receptacle is dependent on the delivery of auxin from the achenes. At later stages, during enlargement of the receptacle, other hormones have been demonstrated to participate to different degrees, from the general involvement of gibberellins and abs...

Fruit ripening is a unique plant developmental process with direct implications for our food supply, nutrition, and health. In contrast to climacteric fruit, where ethylene is pivotal, the hormonal control of ripening in nonclimacteric fruit, such as grape (Vitis vinifera), is poorly understood. Brassinosteroids (BRs) are steroidal hormones, essential for normal plant growth and development but...

In contrast to climacteric fruits, where ethylene is known to be pivotal, the regulation of ripening in non-climacteric fruits is not well understood. In the non-climacteric strawberry (Fragaria anannassa), auxin and abscisic acid (ABA) are thought to be important, but the roles of other hormones suggested to be involved in fruit development and ripening are not clear. Here changes in the level...