During climacteric fruit ripening, autocatalytic (Type II) ethylene production initiates a transcriptional cascade that controls the production of many important fruit quality traits including flavour production and softening. The last step in ethylene biosynthesis is the conversion of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) to ethylene by the enzyme ACC oxidase (ACO). Ten independent kiwif...

Activities of the cell wall degrading enzymes cellulase, polygalacturonase, and β-galactosidase were determined on unripe, semi-ripe, and ripe raspberry (Rubus caesius L.) fruit. The enzyme activity, measured as μmoles of released product.g of fruit h indicated the presence of polygalacturonase, cellulose, and β-galactosidase in raspberry fruit. Enhanced fruit ripening was reflected by increase...

Pear fruit usually soften and develop a melting texture when harvested at the mature green stage and ripened. The reason why the fruit does not fully ripen on the tree is unknown. To clarify this, our attention was directed to the continuous supply of assimilates and/or other substances into the fruit via phloem transport. To determine the effect of inhibiting phloem transport on fruit ripening...

Persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb.), which is a climacteric fruit, softens in 3-5 weeks after harvest. However, little is known regarding the transcriptional changes that underlie persimmon ripening. In this study, high-throughput de novo RNA sequencing was performed to examine differential expression between freshly harvested (FH) and softened (ST) persimmon fruit peels. Using the Illumina HiSeq...

Cell wall changes were examined in fruit of a melting flesh peach (Prunus persica L.) allowed to ripen on the tree. Three phases to softening were noted, the first of which began prior to the completion of flesh colour change and an increase in ethylene evolution. Softening in young mature fruit, prior to ripening, was associated with a depolymerization of matrix glycans both loosely and tightl...

green olive cultivars “manzanila” and “mission” were harvested at the mature green stage. they were either treated with 1-methylcyclopropane (1-mcp) at a concentration of 1.8 µl/l for 24 h at 20°c or kept untreated as a control. both treated and untreated fruits were then immersed in water containing cacl2 of 0 (control), 50 and 100 mm for 2 h under 1.2 bar pressure. fruits were then surface dr...

Tomato fruit ripening is accompanied by extensive degradation of pectic cell wall components. This is thought to be due to the action of a single enzyme, polygalacturonase, whose activity is controlled, at least in part, at the level of gene expression. At the onset of tomato fruit ripening, polygalacturonase enzyme activity, mRNA levels, and relative rate of gene transcription all increase dra...

The tolerance of ‘Apple’ banana (Musa sp.), avocado (Persea americana Mill.), mango (Mangifera indica L.), papaya (Carica papaya L.), and red ginger (Alpinia purpurata (Vieill.) K. Schum) inflorescences to carbonyl sulfide (COS) fumigation was studied. Commodities were exposed at 25°C to COS at various concentrations (1–6% (v/v) for banana; 1% and 2% for the other fruits for various times from ...

Avocado is an important tropical fruit with high commercial value, but has a relatively short storage life. In this study, the effects of cold shock treatment (CST) on shelf life of naturally ripened and ethylene-ripened avocado fruits were investigated. Fruits were immersed in ice water for 30 min, then subjected to natural or ethylene-induced ripening. Fruit color; firmness; respiration rate;...