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Plant Physiology 91:1527-1534 (1989)
© 1989 American Society of Plant Biologists

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Metabolism and Enzymology

Sucrose Phosphate Synthase and Acid Invertase as Determinants of Sucrose Concentration in Developing Muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) Fruits 1

Natalie L. Hubbard, Steven C. Huber and D. Mason Pharr

Department of Horticultural Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7609, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7609, Department of Crop Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7609, Department of Botany, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7609

Fruits of orange-fleshed and green-fleshed muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) were harvested at different times throughout development to evaluate changes in metabolism which lead to sucrose accumulation, and to determine the basis of differences in fruit sucrose accumulation among genotypes. Concentrations of sucrose, raffinose saccharides, hexoses and starch, as well as activities of the sucrose metabolizing enzymes sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) (EC 2.4.1.14), sucrose synthase (EC 2.4.1.13), and acid and neutral invertases (EC 3.2.1.26) were measured. Sucrose synthase and neutral invertase activities were relatively low (1.7 ± 0.3 micromole per hour per gram fresh weight and 2.2 ± 0.2, respectively) and changed little throughout fruit development. Acid invertase activity decreased during fruit development, (from as high as 40 micromoles per hour per gram fresh weight) in unripe fruit, to undetectable activity in mature, ripened fruits, while SPS activity in the fruit increased (from 7 micromoles per hour per gram fresh weight) to as high as 32 micromoles per hour per gram fresh weight. Genotypes which accumulated different amounts of sucrose had similar acid invertase activity but differed in SPS activity. Our results indicate that both acid invertase and SPS are determinants of sucrose accumulation in melon fruit. However, the decline in acid invertase appears to be a normal function of fruit maturation, and is not the primary factor which determines sucrose accumulation. Rather, the capacity for sucrose synthesis, reflected in the activity of SPS, appears to determine sucrose accumulation, which is an important component of fruit quality.

1 Cooperative investigations of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, and the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service, Raleigh, NC. This work was supported in part by BARD grant No. I-1062-86. Paper No. 12165 of the Journal Series of the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service, Raleigh, NC 27695-7643.




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