An overview of tomato fruit-ripening mutants and their use in increasing shelf life of tomato fruits

Fruits are excellent sources of essential vitamins and health-boosting minerals. Recently, regulation of fruit ripening by both internal and external cues for the improvement of fruit quality and shelf life has received considerable attention. Rosmarinic acid (RA) is a kind of natural plant-derived polyphenol, widely used in the drug therapy and food industry due to its distinct physiological functions. However, the role of RA in plant growth and development, especially at the postharvest period of fruits, remains largely unknown. Here, we demonstrated that postharvest RA treatment delayed the ripening in tomato fruits. Exogenous application of RA decreased ripening-associated ethylene production and inhibited the fruit color change from green to red based on the decline in lycopene accumulation. We also found that the degradation of sucrose and malic acid during ripening was significantly suppressed in RA-treated tomato fruits. The results of metabolite profiling showed that RA application promoted the accumulation of multiple amino acids in tomato fruits, such as aspartic acid, serine, tyrosine, and proline. Meanwhile, RA application also strengthened the antioxidant system by increasing both the activity of antioxidant enzymes and the contents of reduced forms of antioxidants. These findings not only unveiled a novel function of RA in fruit ripening, but also indicated an attractive strategy to manage and improve shelf life, flavor, and sensory evolution of tomato fruits.

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Influence of fruit ripening acceleration measures on flowering and fruiting of small-sized tomato

Acta Agrobotanica ◽

10.5586/aa.2006.074 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 59 (2) ◽

pp. 191-198

Author(s):

Renata Dobromilska ◽

Katarzyna Kujath

Keyword(s):

Fruit Ripening ◽

Tomato Fruit ◽

Tomato Fruits ◽

Experimental Station ◽

Tomato Fruit Ripening ◽

Tomato Cultivars

The investigations were carried out in 2001-2003 at the Horticulture Experimental Station, University of Agriculture in Szczecin. The influence of truss cutting and application of Ethrel preparation on the flowering and acceleration of ripening of small-sized tomato fruit was studied. The experiment focused on the following factors: methods of acceleration of tomato fruit ripening (truss cutting, Ethrel preparation, truss cutting + Ethrel preparation) and tomato cultivars ('Cheresita F1', 'Favorita F1'). The applied methods had no influence on the number of flowers and germs of the small-sized tomato. The truss cutting increased the percentage of set fruits compared to the number of flowers. The application of Ethrel preparation along with truss cutting significantly increased the early yield of tomato fruits. The Ethrel and truss cutting accelerated the small-sized tomato harvesting by 12 days. Cv. 'Cheresita F1' produced a larger number of flowers, germs and fruits than 'Favorita F1'.

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Semi-dominant effects of a novel ripening inhibitor (rin) locus allele on tomato fruit ripening

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0249575 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. e0249575

Author(s):

Yasuhiro Ito ◽

Nobutaka Nakamura ◽

Eiichi Kotake-Nara

Keyword(s):

Transcription Factor ◽

Shelf Life ◽

Fruit Ripening ◽

Stop Codon ◽

Tomato Fruit ◽

Wild Type ◽

Long Term Storage ◽

Tomato Fruit Ripening ◽

Ripening Inhibitor ◽

Β Carotene

The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) ripening inhibitor (rin) mutation completely represses fruit ripening, as rin fruits fail to express ripening-associated genes and remain green and firm. Moreover, heterozygous rin fruits (rin/+) ripen normally but have extended shelf life, an important consideration for this perishable fruit crop; therefore, heterozygous rin has been widely used to breed varieties that produce red tomatoes with improved shelf life. We previously used CRISPR/Cas9 to produce novel alleles at the rin locus. The wild-type allele RIN encodes a MADS-box transcription factor and the novel allele, named as rinG2, generates an early stop codon, resulting in C-terminal truncation of the transcription factor. Like rin fruits, rinG2 fruits exhibit extended shelf life, but unlike rin fruits, which remain yellow-green even after long-term storage, rinG2 fruits turn orange due to ripening-associated carotenoid production. Here, to explore the potential of the rinG2 mutation for breeding, we characterized the effects of rinG2 in the heterozygous state (rinG2/+) compared to the effects of rin/+. The softening of rinG2/+ fruits was delayed compared to the wild type but to a lesser degree than rin/+ fruits. Lycopene and β-carotene levels in rinG2/+ fruits were similar to those of the wild type, whereas rin/+ fruits accumulated half the amount of β-carotene compared to the wild type. The rinG2/+ fruits produced lower levels of ethylene than wild-type and rin/+ fruits. Expression analysis revealed that in rinG2/+ fruits, the rinG2 mutation (like rin) partially inhibited the expression of ripening-associated genes. The small differences in the inhibitory effects of rinG2 vs. rin coincided with small differences in phenotypes, such as ethylene production, softening, and carotenoid accumulation. Therefore, rinG2 represents a promising genetic resource for developing tomato cultivars with extended shelf life.

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Regulation of fruit ripening by the brassinosteroid biosynthetic gene SlCYP90B3 via an ethylene-dependent pathway in tomato

Horticulture Research ◽

10.1038/s41438-020-00383-0 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Songshen Hu ◽

Lihong Liu ◽

Shuo Li ◽

Zhiyong Shao ◽

Fanliang Meng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fruit Ripening ◽

Tomato Fruit ◽

Soluble Sugar ◽

Expression Level ◽

P450 Monooxygenase ◽

Tomato Fruits ◽

Altered Expression ◽

Carotenoid Accumulation ◽

Tomato Fruit Ripening ◽

Transgenic Lines

Abstract The essential role of ethylene in fruit ripening has been thoroughly studied. However, the involvement of brassinosteroids (BRs) in the regulation of fruit ripening and their relationship with the ethylene pathway are poorly understood. In the current study, we found that BRs were actively synthesized during tomato fruit ripening. We then generated transgenic lines overexpressing or silencing SlCYP90B3, which encodes a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase that catalyzes the rate-limiting step of BR synthesis. The expression level of SlCYP90B3 was positively related to the contents of bioactive BRs as well as the ripening process in tomato fruit, including enhanced softening and increased soluble sugar and flavor volatile contents. Both carotenoid accumulation and ethylene production were strongly correlated with the expression level of SlCYP90B3, corroborated by the altered expression of carotenoid biosynthetic genes as well as ethylene pathway genes in transgenic tomato fruits. However, the application of the ethylene perception inhibitor 1-methycyclopropene (1-MCP) abolished the promotion effect of SlCYP90B3 overexpression on carotenoid accumulation. Taken together, these results increase our understanding of the involvement of SlCYP90B3 in bioactive BR biosynthesis as well as fruit ripening in tomato, thus making SlCYP90B3 a target gene for improvement of visual, nutritional and flavor qualities of tomato fruits with no yield penalty.

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The expression of tin gene in prolongated tomato fruit ripening - Lycopersicom esculentum Mill.

Genetika ◽

10.2298/gensr0302077z ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 35 (2) ◽

pp. 77-83 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jasmina Zdravkovic ◽

Zivoslav Markovic ◽

Milan Damjanovic ◽

Milan Zdravkovic ◽

Radisa Djordjevic

Keyword(s):

Weight Loss ◽

Shelf Life ◽

Open Field ◽

Fruit Ripening ◽

Tomato Fruit ◽

Fruit Weight ◽

Fruit Firmness ◽

Selection Programme ◽

Tomato Fruit Ripening

Tomato selection programme, aiming to create a tomato hybrid with better fruit firmness, has been based on adding rin gene in perspective selection material. The fruit firmness has been based on decelerated ripening which prolongs the shelf life. Heterozygote genotypes (rin/+) have considerably longer shelf life that genotypes with uniform ripening (+/+). The effects of rin gene on shelf life have been examined on four experimental hybrids (K 56S K - 18, K - 64 and K -15 - rin/+ genetic configuration) compared with Atina Fl genotype (uniform ripening +/+) K - 91 selected, line (rin/rin) and Fino F1 (DRS) unknown genetic construction and very good fruit firmness. The parameter for shelf life has been the fruit weight loss during the preservation - from harvest till the fading. The weight loss has been recorded every 7th day during two months. The experimental hybrids showed good agro technical characteristics of mid early tomato intended for production in the open field. During the shelf life, the genotype K - 15 faded the most slowly, both in the group of green and mature fruits.

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Assessment of locally produced waxing materials on the shelf life and fruit quality of two tomato varieties (Solanum lycopersicum)

Journal of Energy and Natural Resource Management ◽

10.26796/jenrm.v4i1.73 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 36-47

Author(s):

R. Osae G. Essilfie J. O. Anim

Keyword(s):

Shelf Life ◽

Tomato Fruit ◽

Chemical Properties ◽

Storage Period ◽

Cassava Starch ◽

Soluble Solids ◽

Shea Butter ◽

Tomato Fruits ◽

Randomized Design ◽

Colour Development

The study was conducted to assess the effect of different waxing materials on the quality attributes of tomato fruits. A 2 x8 factorial experiment layout in complete randomized design with 16 treatment combinations and 3 replication was adopted.The materials that were used for the experiment are two (2) varieties of tomatoes (Pectomech and Power Rano) and seven(7) waxing material (shea butter, cassava starch, beeswax, and a combination of shea butter + cassava starch, shea butter + beeswax, cassava starch + beeswax, shea butter + cassava starch + beeswax) and a control. Results from the experiment indicated that all waxing treatments delayed the development of weight loss, firmness, pH, total soluble solids, and total titrable acidity. The results also suggested that edible wax coatings delayed the ripening process and colour development of tomato fruits during the storage period and extended the shelf life. However Beewax treatment and its combinations performed better than the other treatments. It was therefore recommended that locally produced wax such as Beewax, Shea butter, Cassava Starch treatments and their combinations could be a good technology for preserving the quality and extending the shelf life of fresh tomato fruit as well as maintaining the physical and chemical properties.

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