JXB Advance Access published online on June 13, 2005
Journal of Experimental Botany, doi:10.1093/jxb/eri202
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Padova, Via G. Colombo 3, I-35121 Padova, Italy
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. 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.
Received November 12, 2004
Accepted April 18, 2005
RESEARCH PAPER
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?
Giorgio Casadoro, E-mail: giorgio.casadoro{at}unipd.it
![]()
Abstract ![]()
CiteULike
Connotea
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
P. Wang, B. Zhang, X. Li, C. Xu, X. Yin, L. Shan, I. Ferguson, and K. Chen Ethylene signal transduction elements involved in chilling injury in non-climacteric loquat fruit J. Exp. Bot., October 30, 2009; (2009) erp302v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
Z. Lin, S. Zhong, and D. Grierson Recent advances in ethylene research J. Exp. Bot., August 1, 2009; 60(12): 3311 - 3336. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
X.-r. Yin, K.-s. Chen, A. C. Allan, R.-m. Wu, B. Zhang, N. Lallu, and I. B. Ferguson Ethylene-induced modulation of genes associated with the ethylene signalling pathway in ripening kiwifruit J. Exp. Bot., May 1, 2008; 59(8): 2097 - 2108. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. Chervin, N. Terrier, A. Ageorges, F. Ribes, and T. Kuapunyakoon Influence of Ethylene on Sucrose Accumulation in Grape Berry Am. J. Enol. Vitic., December 1, 2006; 57(4): 511 - 513. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||

