title: Effect of water deficit on the cell wall of the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera 'Deglet nour', Arecales) fruit during development.
abstract: Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is an important crop providing a valuable nutrition source for people in many countries including the Middle East and North Africa. In recent years, the amount of rain in North Africa and especially in the Tunisian palm grove areas has dropped significantly. We investigated the growth and cell wall remodelling of fruits harvested at three key development stages from trees grown with or without water supply. During development, cell wall solubilization and remodelling was characterized by a decrease of the degree of methylesterification of pectin, an important loss of galactose content and a reduction of the branching of xylan by arabinose in irrigated condition. Water deficit had a profound effect on fruit size, pulp content, cell wall composition and remodelling. Loss of galactose content was not as important, arabinose content was significantly higher in the pectin-enriched extracts from non-irrigated condition, and the levels of methylesterification of pectin and O-acetylation of xyloglucan were lower than in irrigated condition. The lower levels of hydrophobic groups (methylester and O-acetyl) and the less intensive degradation of the hydrophilic galactan, arabinan and arabinogalactan in the cell wall may be implicated in maintaining the hydration status of the cells under water deficit.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Glycobiologie et Matrice Extracellulaire Végétale, UPRES EA 4358, IRIB, Normandy University, Université de Rouen, 76821 Mont Saint-Aignan Cedex, France. jeanclaude.mollet@univ-rouen.fr
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gribaa
authors.forename: Flavien
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dardelle
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lehner
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rihouey
authors.forename: Carole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Burel
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferchichi
authors.forename: Azeddine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Driouich
authors.forename: Jean-Claude
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Mollet
mesh_terms: D000107:Acetylation; D028023:Arecaceae / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism*; D003681:Dehydration; D004951:Esterification; D005638:Fruit / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D005685:Galactans / Q000378:metabolism; D005690:Galactose / Q000378:metabolism; D005936:Glucans / Q000378:metabolism; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D010368:Pectins / Q000378:metabolism; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000378:metabolism; D012995:Solubility; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism*; D014990:Xylans / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C411147:1,4-beta-galactan; D005685:Galactans; D005936:Glucans; D011134:Polysaccharides; D014990:Xylans; D014867:Water; C029353:xyloglucan; C007916:hemicellulose; D010368:Pectins; C005653:arabinogalactan; D005690:Galactose