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DEVELOPMENT AND HORMONE ACTION

The Grapevine fleshless berry Mutation. A Unique Genotype to Investigate Differences between Fleshy and Nonfleshy Fruit¹

Unité Mixte de Recherche Biologie des Espèces Pérennes Cultivées, Agro-Montpellier/Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, 34060 Montpellier cedex 01, France (L.F., C.R., A.B., L.T.); Unité Mixte de Recherche Physiologie et Biotechnologies Végétales, Université Bordeaux 1 and 2, 33883 Villenave d'Ornon, France (A.M., M.M.); and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Plant Industry, Glen Osmond, South Australia 5064, Australia (M.R.T.)

In flowering plants, fruit morphogenesis is a distinct process following fertilization resulting in the formation of a specialized organ associated with seeds. Despite large variations in types and shapes among species, fleshy fruits share common characteristics to promote seed dispersal by animals such as organ growth and metabolite accumulation to attract animal feeding. The molecular biology of fruit ripening has received considerable attention, but little is known about the determinism of early fruit morphogenesis and why some fruits are fleshy while others lack flesh. We have identified in grapevine (Vitis vinifera) a mutation we have named fleshless berry (flb) that reduces by 20 times the weight of the pericarp at ripening without any effect on fertility or seed size and number. The flb mutation strongly impaired division and differentiation of the most vacuolated cells in the inner mesocarp. The timing of ripening was not altered by the mutation although the accumulation of malic acid in the green stage was noticeably reduced while sucrose content (instead of hexoses) increased during ripening. The mutation segregates as a single dominant locus. These results indicate that the Flb^– mutant is suitable material to advance our understanding of the genetic and developmental processes involved in the differentiation of an ovary into a fruit.

The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions for Authors (www.plantphysiol.org) is: Laurent Torregrosa (laurent.torregrosa{at}ensam.inra.fr).

Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.105.067488.

^* Corresponding author; e-mail laurent.torregrosa{at}ensam.inra.fr; fax 33–499612616.

Received June 20, 2005; returned for revision December 7, 2005; accepted December 7, 2005.

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