The fading distinctions between classical patterns of ripening in climacteric and non-climacteric fruit and the ubiquity of ethylene - An overview. (original) (raw)
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Role of Ethylene in Fruit Ripening
PLANT PHYSIOLOGY, 1962
There have arisen two schools of thought concerning the role of ethylene in fruit maturation: the classic view of Kidd and West (26) and Hansen (22) that ethylene is a ripening hormone, and a recent interpretation by Biale et al. (7, 3, 4) that it is a by-product of the ripening process. The original presentation of the by-product theory in this journal (7) was tempered with the reminder that 0.1 ppm ethylene may stimulate ripening, so that "in the absence of any information correlating the internal ethylene content with the rate of ethylene production, one can advance the argument that small quantities sufficient to induce ripening are produced prior to the rise of respiration, but measurable amounts are detected only after the onset of the climacteric." The development of highly sensitive gas chromatographic instruments makes it feasible to appraise critically those instances in whiclh fruits have been reported to produce ethylene not at all or only after the climacteric has started, and also to determine the content of ethylene witllin a fruit at the onset of the rise in respiration. Results of such experiments are reported in this communication, and they have a direct bearing on the problem of whetlher or not ethylene is a natural ripening hormone. Materials .Mangoes (Magiiifera indica L., cv. Kent & Haden) were harvested in local orchards. The fruits used for each experiment were picked from the same tree on the same day and were all of about equal size and apparent maturity. Bananas (Miusa acuiiniata cv. Gros Mfichel) harvested at 34 fullness were shipped from Ecuador. Pineapples [Ananas comnosus (L.) AMerr.] at various stages of maturity were flown from Honduras; they arrived in very satisfactory condition w%ithin a day of picking. The Citrus Experiment Station at Tampa, Fla. provided oranges [Citrl(s sinensis (L.) Osbeck] and passion fruits (Passiflora eddlis,Sims); other fruits were purchased in local markets.
Physiologia Plantarum, 2006
Laser photoacoustic spectroscopy continuously quantified the ethylene (C 2 H 4) produced by strawberry flowers and fruits developing in planta. C 2 H 4 was first detected as flower buds opened and exhibited diurnal oscillations (to approximately 200 pl flower À1 h À1) before petal abscission. Exogenous application of silver thiosulphate (STS) to detached flowers inhibited petal abscission and flower senescence. In fruit, C 2 H 4 production was maintained at a 'low level' (10-60 pl fruit À1 h À1) until fruit expanded when levels increased in a diurnal pattern (to 200 pl fruit À1 h À1). After expansion, C 2 H 4 production declined to a low level until fruit attained the red-ripe stage for at least 24 h. After this time, C 2 H 4 levels increased linearly (no diurnal fluctuation) to approximately 1 nL fruit À1 h À1. Twenty-four hours after the re-initiation of C 2 H 4 production by red fruit, CO 2 levels increased approximately threefold , indicative of a respiratory climacteric. STS applied to fruits developing in planta and dissected fruit parts ex situ established that C 2 H 4 production is regulated by negative feedback until fruits had expanded. The C 2 H 4 produced by red-ripe fruit was regulated by positive feedback. Anti-1amino-cyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid oxidase IgG localization identified immunoreactive antigens of 40 and 30 kDa (M r) within the fruit achenes of expanding and red-ripe fruit. Analysis of dissected fruit showed that seed C 2 H 4 accounts for 50% the C 2 H 4 that is detectable from ripe fruit.
Mechanisms of Fruit Ripening: Retrospect and Prospects
IV International Conference on Managing Quality in Chains - The Integrated View on Fruits and Vegetables Quality, 2006
This paper aims at giving an overview of the progress made during the last decades on the mechanisms of fruit ripening and to present the most recent trends and prospects for the future. Important steps forward will be presented (respiratory climacteric, ethylene biosynthesis and action, isolation of genes involved in the ripening process, biotechnological control of fruit ripening....) by showing how the judicious exploitation of the data published previously, the strategies, methodologies and plant material adopted have been crucial for the advancement of knowledge. Opportunities of co-operation between geneticists and post-harvest physiologists as well as new possibilities offered by genomics, proteomics and metabolomics for the understanding of the fruit ripening process and the development of sensory quality will be developed.
Internal atmosphere of fruits: Role and significance in ripening and storability
Postharvest Ripening Physiology of Crops. Series: Innovation in Postharvest Technology. Sunil Pareek (Ed.), 2016
Ripening, storability, quality attributes, and postharvest losses in fruits are interlinked with one another. The postharvest life of a fruit is primarily determined by various physiological processes and associated metabolic changes occurring in the fruit. The role of the external atmosphere in reg¬ulating the above processes and changes is relatively better understood. However, little is known about the overall internal atmosphere of the fruit and how it influences different aspects of ripening and storability. This chapter looks into this emerging area: the basic and applied importance of the internal atmosphere to postharvest physiology and food science and technology. There are various gases and volatiles that make the internal atmosphere of fruits. Their production and diffusion across the fruit tissues are governed by many factors. Differences in morphological, anatomical, and microstructural features of fruits are now assuming greater impor¬tance, as they are involved in determining the internal environment of fruits. As a consequence, there exists variability in the internal atmosphere of fruits, which is evident not only at the level of different species, but also within species. Differences in ripening behavior of different fruits under plant-attached and -detached conditions are also expected in view of the above. The involvement of some of gases (ethylene, oxygen, and carbon dioxide) and volatiles (ethanol, acetaldehyde, water vapors and water sta¬tus, salicylic acid and methyl salicylate, jasmonic acid and jasmonates, and nitric oxide) in the regulation of ripening-related changes, including flavor and aroma, is described and discussed at the individual as well as at the interactive level (especially with ethylene). Some examples are presented wherein endogenous and exogenous volatiles exhibit a positive effect on the fruit’s storability, quality, and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Lastly, a few researchable issues are suggested. The outcome from this area can supplement the existing storage technologies, and this will be highly desirable in achieving a more effective and holistic way of the postharvest management of perishable commodities.
Ripening of fleshy fruit: Molecular insight and the role of ethylene
Biotechnology Advances, 2010
Development and ripening in fruit is a unique phase in the life cycle of higher plants which encompasses several stages progressively such as fruit development, its maturation, ripening and finally senescence. During ripening phase, several physiological and biochemical changes take place through differential expression of various genes that are developmentally regulated. Expression and/or suppression of these genes contribute to various changes in the fruit that make it visually attractive and edible. However, in fleshy fruit massive losses accrue during post harvest handling of the fruit which may run into billions of dollars worldwide. This encouraged scientists to look for various ways to save these losses. Genetic engineering appears to be the most promising and cost effective means to prevent these losses. Most fleshy fruit ripen in the presence of ethylene and once ripening has been initiated proceeds uncontrollably. Ethylene evokes several responses during ripening through a signaling cascade and thousands of genes participate which not only sets in ripening but also responsible for its spoilage. Slowing down post ripening process in fleshy fruit has been the major focus of ripening-related research. In this review article, various developments that have taken place in the last decade with respect to identifying and altering the function of ripening-related genes have been described. Role of ethylene and ethylene-responsive genes in ripening of fleshy fruit is also included. Taking clues from the studies in tomato as a model fruit, few case studies are reviewed.
The Progression of Ethylene Production and Respiration in the Tissues of RipeningFuji'Apple Fruit
…, 2000
Fuji' apple (Malus ×domestica Borkh.) fruits were harvested periodically prior to and during fruit ripening. Ethylene evolution and respiration rates of skin, hypanthial, and carpellary tissue was determined in each fruit. Additionally, whole fruits were used for analyses of internal ethylene concentration, volatile evolution, starch content, flesh firmness, and soluble solids content. Ethylene production was greatest in the carpellary tissue at all sampling dates except the one occurring just before the rise in whole fruit internal ethylene concentration, when production in the skin and carpellary tissue was similar. Respiration was always highest in the skin, in which the climacteric rise was most drastic. Higher ethylene production in the carpellary tissue of pre-and postclimacteric fruit and higher respiration in the skin tissue, including a noticeable climacteric rise, is indicative of a ripening initiation signal originating and/or transduced through the carpels to the rest of the fruit.
Role of internal atmosphere on fruit ripening and storability—a review
Concentrations of different gases and volatiles present or produced inside a fruit are determined by the permeability of the fruit tissue to these compounds. Primarily, surface morphology and anatomical features of a given fruit determine the degree of permeance across the fruit. Species and varietal variability in surface characteristics and anatomical features therefore influence not only the diffusibility of gases and volatiles across the fruits but also the activity and response of various metabolic and physiological reactions/processes regulated by these compounds. Besides the well-known role of ethylene, gases and volatiles; O2, CO2, ethanol, acetaldehyde, water vapours, methyl salicylate, methyl jasmonate and nitric oxide (NO) have the potential to regulate the process of ripening individually and also in various interactive ways. Differences in the prevailing internal atmosphere of the fruits may therefore be considered as one of the causes behind the existing varietal variability of fruits in terms of rate of ripening, qualitative changes, firmness, shelf-life, ideal storage requirement, extent of tolerance towards reduced O2 and/or elevated CO2, transpirational loss and susceptibility to various physiological disorders. In this way, internal atmosphere of a fruit (in terms of different gases and volatiles) plays a critical regulatory role in the process of fruit ripening. So, better and holistic understanding of this internal atmosphere along with its exact regulatory role on various aspects of fruit ripening will facilitate the development of more meaningful, refined and effective approaches in postharvest management of fruits. Its applicability, specially for the climacteric fruits, at various stages of the supply chain from growers to consumers would assist in reducing postharvest losses not only in quantity but also in quality.
Acta horticulturae, 2003
Ethylene affects the metabolism of fruits on different levels. The definition of a closed packaging system for fruits includes the determination of the required O 2permeability, CO 2-permeability and ethylene permeability/ethylene adsorption rate of the packaging film. Consequently, to package a certain type of fruit in a specific package configuration, the relation between the ethylene production rate (at the optimal ripeness stage for packaging) and the respiration rate, with changing O 2 concentration, has to be established. For this purpose the Michaelis-Menten type model, describing the influence of O 2 on the respiration rate, was extended with an extra equation for the ethylene production rate. Experimental data on gas exchange were analysed using WEST (Hemmis N.V., Kortrijk, Belgium) modelling and simulation software. A clear linear relation was found between the ethylene production rate and the respiration rate (R² ranging from 0.8 to 1). It is, in our knowledge, the first time that such a relation was described. Moreover, analysis from the data revealed that for most investigated ethylene producing fruits, the ethylene production rate reached zero before aerobic respiration was stopped. The proposed model was made for commercially mature avocado, banana, mango, kiwi, nectarine, strawberry, raspberry, white grape and red currant fruit and illustrated with data of banana, nectarine, raspberry, avocado and kiwi fruit.
Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, 1980
Changes in the level of 1-amino cyclopropane- Icarboxylic acid (ACC) were compared to ethylene production during fruit ripening of avocado (Persea americana Mill.) banana (Musa sapientum L.) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.). Preclimacteric tissues contained less than 0.1 nmol/g of ACC in all tissues. In avocado, the level of ACC increased to 45 nmol/g in the later stage of the climacteric rise, then decreased to 5 nmol/g, and later increased to over 100 nmol/g in overripe fruit. In banana ACC increased to 5 nmol/g during the climacteric, decreased to 2 nmol/g several days after the climacteric peak, and increased up to 5 nmol/g in overripe fruit. Levels of ACC in tomato ranged from 0.1 to 10 nmol/g and were significantly correlated with ethylene production rates in all but overripe fruits. The correlation between the ACC content and the production of ethylene is discussed. In climacteric-type fruits the dramatic increase in ethylene production is closely associated with an...