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JXB Advance Access originally published online on February 5, 2009
Journal of Experimental Botany 2009 60(3):791-799; doi:10.1093/jxb/ern328
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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/2.0/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

The role of the embryo and ethylene in avocado fruit mesocarp discoloration

Vera Hershkovitz1, Haya Friedman2, Eliezer E. Goldschmidt2 and Edna Pesis1,*

1Department of Postharvest Science of Fresh Produce, The Volcani Center, PO Box 6, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel
2The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel

* To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: epesis{at}agri.gov.il

Chilling injury (CI) symptoms in avocado (Persea americana Mill.) fruit, expressed as mesocarp discoloration, were found to be associated with embryo growth and ethylene production during cold storage. In cvs Ettinger and Arad most mesocarp discoloration was located close to the base of the seed and was induced by ethylene treatment in seeded avocado fruit. However, ethylene did not increase mesocarp discoloration in seedless fruit stored at 5 °C. Application of ethylene to whole fruit induced embryo development inside the seed. It also induced seedling elongation when seeds were imbibed separately. Persea americana ethylene receptor (PaETR) gene expression and polyphenol oxidase activity were highest close to the base of the seed and decreased gradually toward the blossom end. By contrast, expressions of PaETR transcript and polyphenol oxidase activity in seedless avocado fruit were similar throughout the pulp at the base of the fruit. Application of the ethylene inhibitor, 1-methylcyclopropene, decreased mesocarp browning, embryo development, seedling growth, and ion leakage, and down-regulated polyphenol oxidase activity. The results demonstrate that ethylene-mediated embryo growth in whole fruit is involved in the mesocarp response to ethylene perception and the development of CI disorders.

Key words: Chilling injury, ethylene receptor, 1-methylcyclopropene, Persea americana, polyphenol oxidase, seed germination, seedless avocado

Received 11 August 2008; Revised 20 November 2008 Accepted 21 November 2008


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