Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (30)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Flores, F.
Right arrow Articles by Ambid, C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Flores, F.
Right arrow Articles by Ambid, C.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Flores, F.
Right arrow Articles by Ambid, C.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol. 53, No. 367, pp. 201-206, February 1, 2002
© 2002 Oxford University Press

Original Papers

Role of ethylene in the biosynthetic pathway of aliphatic ester aroma volatiles in Charentais Cantaloupe melons

Francisco Flores1,2, Fikri El Yahyaoui2, Gustavo de Billerbeck, Felix Romojaro1, Alain Latché, Mondher Bouzayen, Jean-Claude Pech3 and Christian Ambid

UMR INRA-INP/ENSAT, Av. de l'Agrobiopole, BP 107, Auzeville, F-31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France

Compared to other melon types, Cantaloupe Charentais melons are highly aromatic with a major contribution to the aroma being made by aliphatic and branched esters. Using a transgenic line in which the synthesis of the plant hormone ethylene has been considerably lowered by antisense ACC oxidase mRNA (AS), the aliphatic ester pathway steps at which ethylene exerts its regulatory role were found. The data show that the production of aliphatic esters such as hexyl and butyl acetate was blocked in AS fruit and could be reversed by ethylene. Using fruit discs incubated in the presence of various precursors, the steps at which ester formation was inhibited in AS fruit was shown to be the reduction of fatty acids and aldehydes, the last step of acetyl transfer to alcohols being unaffected. However, treating AS fruit with the ethylene antagonist 1-methylcyclopropene resulted in about 50% inhibition of acetyl transfer activity, indicating that this portion of activity was ethylene-dependent and this was supported by the low residual ethylene concentration of AS fruit discs (around 2 µl l-1). In conclusion, the reduction of fatty acids and aldehydes appears essentially to be ethylene-dependent, whilst the last step of alcohol acetylation has ethylene-dependent and ethylene-independent components, probably corresponding to differentially regulated alcohol acetyltransferases.

Key words: Aliphatic esters, Charentais melon, Cucumis melo, ethylene, aroma volatiles.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 jashsHome page
B. Zhang, X.-R. Yin, J.-Y. Shen, K.-S. Chen, and I. B. Ferguson
Volatiles Production and Lipoxygenase Gene Expression in Kiwifruit Peel and Flesh During Fruit Ripening
J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci., July 1, 2009; 134(4): 472 - 477.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J Exp BotHome page
X. Yu, X. Wang, W. Zhang, T. Qian, G. Tang, Y. Guo, and C. Zheng
Antisense suppression of an acid invertase gene (MAI1) in muskmelon alters plant growth and fruit development
J. Exp. Bot., August 1, 2008; 59(11): 2969 - 2977.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Plant Physiol.Home page
M. Genard and B. Gouble
ETHY. A Theory of Fruit Climacteric Ethylene Emission
Plant Physiology, September 1, 2005; 139(1): 531 - 545.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J Exp BotHome page
L. Alexander and D. Grierson
Ethylene biosynthesis and action in tomato: a model for climacteric fruit ripening
J. Exp. Bot., October 1, 2002; 53(377): 2039 - 2055.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.