Plant Physiology Preview
Published on April 20, 2007; 10.1104/pp.107.097477
OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE
Received February 2, 2007
Accepted April 12, 2007
A Re-evaluation of the Key Factors that Influence Tomato Fruit Softening and Integrity
Montserrat Saladié , Antonio J. Matas , Tal Isaacson , Matthew A. Jenks , S. Mark Goodwin , Karl J. Niklas , Ren Xiaolin , John M. Labavitch , Kenneth A. Shackel , Alisdair R. Fernie , Anna Lytovchenko , Malcolm A. O‘Neill , Chris B. Watkins , and Jocelyn K.C. Rose *
Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853; Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907; College of Horticulture, Northwest Agricultural & Forestry University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, P.R. China; Department of Plant Sciences, University of California Davis, CA 95616; Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany; Complex Carbohydrate Research Center and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602; Department of Horticulture, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
* Corresponding author; email: jr286{at}cornell.edu.
The softening of fleshy fruits, such as tomato, during ripening is generally reported to result principally from disassembly of the primary cell wall and middle lamella. However, unsuccessful attempts to prolong fruit firmness by suppressing the expression of a range of wall-modifying proteins in transgenic tomato fruits do not support such a simple model. Delayed Fruit Deterioration (DFD) is a previously unreported tomato cultivar that provides a unique opportunity to assess the contribution of wall metabolism to fruit firmness, since DFD fruits exhibit minimal softening but undergo otherwise normal ripening, unlike all known non-softening tomato mutants reported to date. Wall disassembly, reduced intercellular adhesion and the expression of genes associated with wall degradation were similar in DFD fruit and those of the normally softening cultivar Ailsa Craig. However, ripening DFD fruit showed minimal transpirational water loss and substantially elevated cellular turgor. This allowed an evaluation of the relative contribution and timing of wall disassembly and water loss to fruit softening, which suggested that both processes have a critical influence. Biochemical and biomechanical analyses identified several unusual features of DFD cuticles and the data indicate that, as with wall metabolism, changes in cuticle composition and architecture are an integral and regulated part of the ripening program. A model is proposed in which the cuticle affects the softening of intact tomato fruit both directly, by providing a physical support and indirectly, by regulating water status.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
|
|
 
D. Cantu, B. Blanco-Ulate, L. Yang, J. M. Labavitch, A. B. Bennett, and A. L.T. Powell
Ripening-Regulated Susceptibility of Tomato Fruit to Botrytis cinerea Requires NOR But Not RIN or Ethylene
Plant Physiology,
July 1, 2009;
150(3):
1434 - 1449.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. I. Zanor, J.-L. Rambla, J. Chaib, A. Steppa, A. Medina, A. Granell, A. R. Fernie, and M. Causse
Metabolic characterization of loci affecting sensory attributes in tomato allows an assessment of the influence of the levels of primary metabolites and volatile organic contents
J. Exp. Bot.,
May 1, 2009;
60(7):
2139 - 2154.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
H. Wada, M. A. Matthews, and K. A. Shackel
Seasonal pattern of apoplastic solute accumulation and loss of cell turgor during ripening of Vitis vinifera fruit under field conditions
J. Exp. Bot.,
April 1, 2009;
60(6):
1773 - 1781.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
N. Santiago-Domenech, S. Jimenez-Bemudez, A. J. Matas, J. K. C. Rose, J. Munoz-Blanco, J. A. Mercado, and M. A. Quesada
Antisense inhibition of a pectate lyase gene supports a role for pectin depolymerization in strawberry fruit softening
J. Exp. Bot.,
July 1, 2008;
59(10):
2769 - 2779.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. Mintz-Oron, T. Mandel, I. Rogachev, L. Feldberg, O. Lotan, M. Yativ, Z. Wang, R. Jetter, I. Venger, A. Adato, et al.
Gene Expression and Metabolism in Tomato Fruit Surface Tissues
Plant Physiology,
June 1, 2008;
147(2):
823 - 851.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I. Paran and E. van der Knaap
Genetic and molecular regulation of fruit and plant domestication traits in tomato and pepper
J. Exp. Bot.,
November 23, 2007;
(2007)
erm257v1.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
