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JXB Advance Access published online on August 18, 2006
Journal of Experimental Botany, doi:10.1093/jxb/erl092
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Published by Oxford University Press [2006] on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology. 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.
Received December 16, 2005
Accepted June 21, 2006

RESEARCH PAPER

Inhibition of the ethylene response by 1-MCP in tomato suggests that polyamines are not involved in delaying ripening, but may moderate the rate of ripening or over-ripening

Annalisa Tassoni 1, Christopher B. Watkins 2, and Peter J. Davies 3 *

1 Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA; Department of Experimental Evolutionary Biology, University of Bologna, Via Irnerio 42, I-40126 Bologna, Italy
2 Department of Horticulture, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
3 Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA; Department of Horticulture, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Peter J. Davies, E-mail: pjd2{at}cornell.edu


  Abstract

Ethylene initiates the ripening and senescence of climacteric fruit, whereas polyamines have been considered as senescence inhibitors. Ethylene and polyamine biosynthetic pathways share S-adenosylmethionine as a common intermediate. The effects of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), an inhibitor of ethylene perception, on ethylene and polyamine metabolism and associated gene expression was investigated during ripening of the model climacteric fruit, tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), to determine whether its effect could be via polyamines as well as through a direct effect on ethylene. 1-MCP delayed ripening for 8 d compared with control fruit, similarly delaying ethylene production and the expression of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC)-synthase and some ethylene receptor genes, but not that of ACC oxidase. The expression of ethylene receptor genes returned as ripening was reinitiated. Free putrescine contents remained low while ripening was inhibited by 1-MCP, but increased when the fruit started to ripen; bound putrescine contents were lower. The activity of the putrescine biosynthetic enzyme, arginine decarboxylase, was higher in 1-MCP-treated fruit. Activity of S-adenosylmethionine-decarboxylase peaked at the same time as putrescine levels in control and treated fruit. Gene expression for arginine decarboxylase peaked early in non-treated fruit and coincident with the delayed peak in putrescine in treated fruit. A coincident peak in the gene expression for arginase, S-adenosylmethionine-decarboxylase, and spermidine and spermine synthases was also seen in treated fruit. No effect of treatment on ornithine decarboxylase activity was detected. Polyamines are thus not directly associated with a delay in tomato fruit ripening, but may prolong the fully-ripe stage before the fruit tissues undergo senescence.

Keywords: Ethylene; fruit ripening; 1-MCP; polyamines; tomato.
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