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JXB Advance Access published online on October 11, 2009
Journal of Experimental Botany, doi:10.1093/jxb/erp285
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© 2009 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This paper is available online free of all access charges (see http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/open_access.html for further details)

RESEARCH PAPER

Function of antioxidant enzymes and metabolites during maturation of pea fruits

Manuel A. Matamoros1,*, Jorge Loscos1, Karl-Josef Dietz2, Pedro M. Aparicio-Tejo3 and Manuel Becana1

1Departamento de Nutrición Vegetal, Estación Experimental de Aula Dei, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Apartado 13034, E-50080 Zaragoza, Spain
2Biochemistry and Physiology of Plants, W5-134, Bielefeld University, D-33501, Bielefeld, Germany
3Departamento de Ciencias del Medio Natural, Campus de Arrosadía, Universidad Pública de Navarra, E-31006 Pamplona, Spain

* To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: manumat{at}eead.csic.es

In plant cells, antioxidants keep reactive oxygen species at low concentrations, avoiding oxidative damage while allowing them to play crucial functions in signal transduction. However, little is known about the role of antioxidants during fruit maturation, especially in legumes. Snap pea (Pisum sativum) plants, which have edible fruits, were grown under nodulating and non-nodulating conditions. Fruits were classified in three maturity stages and antioxidants were determined in the seeds and seedless pods. Maturation or prolonged storage of fruits at 25 °C led to a decline in antioxidant activities and metabolites and in {gamma}-glutamylcysteine synthetase protein. Notable exceptions were superoxide dismutase activity and glutathione peroxidase protein, which increased in one or both of these processes. During maturation, cytosolic peroxiredoxin decreased in seeds but increased in pods, and ascorbate oxidase activity was largely reduced in seeds. In stored fruits, ascorbate oxidase activity was nearly abolished in seeds but doubled in pods. It is concluded that symbiotic nitrogen fixation is as effective as nitrogen fertilization in maintaining the antioxidant capacity of pea fruits and that, contrary to climacteric fruits, a general decrease in antioxidants during maturation does not involve oxidative stress. Results underscore the importance of the antioxidant system in reproductive organs and point to ascorbate–glutathione metabolism and cytosolic peroxiredoxin as key players in pea fruit development.

Key words: Antioxidants, ascorbate, fruit maturation, fruit storage, glutathione, nitrogen fixation, pea, peroxiredoxins

Received 19 June 2009; Revised 17 August 2009 Accepted 26 August 2009


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