Different ethylene receptors show an increased expression during the ripening of strawberries: does such an increment imply a role for ethylene in the ripening of these non-climacteric fruits?*
Open Access
- 13 June 2005
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Journal of Experimental Botany
- Vol. 56 (418), 2037-2046
- https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eri202
Abstract
Notwithstanding the economic importance of non-climacteric fruits like grape and strawberry, little is known about the mechanisms that regulate their ripening. Up to now no growth regulator has emerged with a primary role similar to that played by ethylene in the ripening of the climacteric fruits. Strawberries can produce ethylene, although in limited amounts. Two cDNAs coding for enzymes of the ethylene biosynthetic pathway (i.e. FaACO1 and FaACO2), and three cDNAs encoding different ethylene receptors have been isolated. Two receptors (i.e. FaEtr1 and FaErs1) belong to the type-I while the third (i.e. FaEtr2) belongs to the type-II group. The expression of both the ACO and the receptor-encoding genes has been studied in fruits at different stages of development and in fruits treated with hormones (i.e. ethylene and the auxin analogue NAA). All the data thus obtained have been correlated to the known data about ethylene production by strawberry fruits. Interestingly, a good correlation has resulted between the expression of the genes described in this work and the data of ethylene production. In particular, similarly to what occurs during climacteric fruit ripening, there is an increased synthesis of receptors concomitant with the increased synthesis of ethylene in strawberries as well. Moreover, the receptors mostly expressed in ripening strawberries are the type-II ones, that is those with a degenerate histidine–kinase domain. Since the latter domain is thought to establish a weaker link to the CTR1 proteins, even the little ethylene produced by ripening strawberries might be sufficient to trigger ripening-related physiological responses.Keywords
This publication has 27 references indexed in Scilit:
- Ethylene seems required for the berry development and ripening in grape, a non-climacteric fruitPlant Science, 2004
- Pectin esterase gene family in strawberry fruit: study of FaPE1, a ripening-specific isoformJournal of Experimental Botany, 2004
- Exogenous ethylene stimulates the long‐term expression of genes related to anthocyanin biosynthesis in grape berriesPhysiologia Plantarum, 2003
- Effects of ethylene and 1-MCP on the quality and storage life of strawberriesPostharvest Biology and Technology, 2003
- Cloning and characterization of two ripening-related strawberry (Fragariaxananassa cv. Chandler) pectate lyase genesJournal of Experimental Botany, 2003
- Loss-of-Function Mutations in the Ethylene ReceptorETR1 Cause Enhanced Sensitivity and Exaggerated Response to Ethylene in ArabidopsisPlant Physiology, 2002
- Novel Insight into Vascular, Stress, and Auxin-Dependent and -Independent Gene Expression Programs in Strawberry, a Non-Climacteric FruitPlant Physiology, 2002
- An Expansin Gene Expressed in Ripening Strawberry FruitPlant Physiology, 1999
- Treatment of Grape Berries, a Nonclimacteric Fruit with a Synthetic Auxin, Retards Ripening and Alters the Expression of Developmentally Regulated GenesPlant Physiology, 1997
- Cellulase activity and ethylene in ripening strawberry and apple fruitsScientia Horticulturae, 1990