Recently, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to play critical regulatory roles in model plants, such as Arabidopsis, rice, and maize. However, the presence of lncRNAs and how they function in fleshy fruit ripening are still largely unknown because fleshy fruit ripening is not present in the above model plants. Tomato is the model system for fruit ripening studies due to its dramatic...

Fruit ripening is a complex and genetically programmed process. Brassinosteroids (BRs) play an essential role in plant growth and development, including fruit ripening. As a central component of BR signaling, the transcription factor BZR1 is involved in fruit development in tomato. However, the transcriptional network through which BZR1 regulates fruit ripening is mostly unknown. In this study,...

Ethylene has long been known to be a critical signal controlling the ripening of climacteric fruits; however, the signaling mechanism underlying ethylene production during fruit development is unknown. Here, we report that two FERONIA-like receptor kinases (FERLs) regulate fruit ripening by modulating ethylene production in the climacteric fruit, apple (Malus×domestica). Bioinformatic analysis ...

Fruit ripening in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a complicated development process affected by both endogenous hormonal and genetic regulators and external signals. Although the role of NOR, a member of the NAC domain family, in mediating tomato fruit ripening has been established, its underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. To explore further the role of NAC transcription factors in ...

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...

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) fruit ripening is initiated by an increase in ethylene hormone concentration. E8 gene transcription is fruit-specific and is activated at the onset of ripening and in unripe fruit treated with exogenous ethylene. To understand how E8 gene transcription is controlled during ripening, we analyzed the effect of deletions of flanking DNA sequences on E8 gene express...

Our knowledge of the factors mediating ethylene-dependent ripening of climacteric fruit remains limited. The transcription of ethylene-regulated genes is mediated by ethylene response factors (ERFs), but mutants providing information on the specific role of the ERFs in fruit ripening are still lacking, likely due to functional redundancy among this large multigene family of transcription factor...

December 2017 d Vol. 175 d No. 4 On the Cover: Fruits, like many vegetative tissues of plants that contribute to human diets, show accelerated decay following the ripening transition. Ripening control therefore has enormous relevance for both plant biology and food security. Tomato is used by researchers across the globe as a model for fruit development and ripening. In this issue, Yang et al. ...

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...

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...