ISHS Acta Horticulturae 682: V International Postharvest Symposium
STUDY ON EXPRESSION OF GENES INVOLVED IN ETHYLENE BIOSYNTHESIS AND FRUIT SOFTENING IN APPLE AND NECTARINE |
| Authors: | S. Stella, F. Costa, A.M. Bregoli, S. Sansavini, V. Ziosi |
| Keywords: | ACO, ACS, expansin, polygalacturonase, ripening, fruit quality, RT-PCR semi-quantitative |
| Abstract:
Fruit texture and long storage life are key features defining apple eating-quality. Changes in flesh firmness, as a combination of such traits as crispiness, hardness and rate of softening, are part of the physiological process of ripening. The relationship between some cell-wall disassembly enzymes and ethylene production in climacteric fruit (mainly tomato) has been widely demonstrated. In this work we studied this physiological correlation in apple using a semi-quantitative RT-PCR technique on cv. ‘Mondial Gala’ fruits differing in firmness and ethylene production according to the considered ripening stage. Allele-specific primers were designed on specific apple homologue sequences for ACO and ACS ripening genes involved in ethylene biosynthesis and for isoforms of expansin and polygalacturonase that play a key role in fruit softening. A different expression of ACO and ACS genes was found depending on ethylene production; expansin and polygalacturonase expression patterns agree with the general model of softening (an early stage, expansin-dependent, and a later one, poligalacturonase-dependent), proposed for climacteric fruits. | |
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