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JXB Advance Access published online on October 10, 2005
Journal of Experimental Botany, doi:10.1093/jxb/eri293
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© The Author [2005]. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology]. All rights reserved.
Received April 13, 2005
Accepted August 18, 2005

RESEARCH PAPER

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and its potential role in the catabolism of organic acids in the flesh of soft fruit during ripening

Franco Famiani 1*, Niccolò G. M. Cultrera 1, Alberto Battistelli 2, Valeria Casulli 1, Primo Proietti 1, Alvaro Standardi 1, Zhi-Hui Chen 3, Richard C. Leegood 3, and Robert P. Walker 1

1 Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno 74, I-06121 Perugia, Italy
2 Istituto di Biologia Agroambientale e Forestale--Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Viale Marconi 2, I-05010 Porano (TR), Italy
3 Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Franco Famiani, E-mail: ffamiani{at}unipg.it


  Abstract

Previous studies of grapes and tomatoes have shown that the abundance of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) increases in their flesh at the start of ripening, and that this coincides with a decrease in its citrate and/or malate content. Thus, PEPCK might function in the catabolism of organic acid anions during the ripening of these fruits. In the present study, the abundance of PEPCK was determined in the flesh of blueberries, raspberries, red currants, and strawberries at different stages of their development. In addition, changes in the amounts of citrate, malate, soluble sugars, isocitrate lyase, NADP-malic enzyme, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, and pyruvate, orthophosphate dikinase in the flesh were determined. PEPCK was not detected in strawberry flesh, in which there was no dissimilation of malate or citrate. In the flesh of the other fruits, the abundance of PEPCK increased during ripening to an amount that was similar to that in grapes and tomatoes. In the flesh of blueberries and red currants, PEPCK was most abundant when there was dissimilation of malate. In the flesh of raspberries, PEPCK was most abundant when there was dissimilation of malate and citrate. These results are consistent with PEPCK playing a role in the dissimilation of citrate and/or malate in the flesh of these fruits during ripening. However, PEPCK was also present in the flesh of blueberries, raspberries, and red currants when there was no dissimilation of malate or citrate, and this raises the possibility that PEPCK might have additional functions. Dissection of blueberries provided evidence that both PEPCK and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase were present in the same cells, and possible functions for this are discussed.

Keywords: Blueberry; citrate; malate; phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase; raspberry; red currant; soft fruit; strawberry.
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