title: Non-climacteric ripening and sorbitol homeostasis in plum fruits.
abstract: During ripening fruits undergo several physiological and biochemical modifications that influence quality-related properties, such as texture, color, aroma and taste. We studied the differences in ethylene and sugar metabolism between two genetically related Japanese plum cultivars with contrasting ripening behaviors. 'Santa Rosa' (SR) behaved as a typical climacteric fruit, while the bud sport mutant 'Sweet Miriam' (SM) displayed a non-climacteric ripening pattern. SM fruit displayed a delayed ripening that lasted 120 days longer than that of the climacteric fruit. At the full-ripe stage, both cultivars reached similar final size and weight but the non-climacteric fruits were firmer than the climacteric fruits. Fully ripe non-climacteric plum fruits, showed an accumulation of sorbitol that was 2.5 times higher than that of climacteric fruits, and the increase in sorbitol were also paralleled to an increase in sucrose catabolism. These changes were highly correlated with decreased activity and expression of NAD(+)-dependent sorbitol dehydrogenase and sorbitol oxidase and increased sorbitol-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity, suggesting an enhanced sorbitol synthesis in non-climacteric fruits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA. Electronic address: jsakim@ucdavis.edu.
authors.forename: Ho-Youn
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA. Electronic address: mfarcuh@ucdavis.edu.
authors.forename: Macarena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farcuh
authors.affiliation: Department of Fruit Tree Sciences, Institute of Plant Sciences, A.R.O. Volcani Center, PO Box 6, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel. Electronic address: vhyuvalc@volcani.agri.gov.il.
authors.forename: Yuval
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA. Electronic address: chcrisosto@ucdavis.edu.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Crisosto
authors.affiliation: Department of Fruit Tree Sciences, Institute of Plant Sciences, A.R.O. Volcani Center, PO Box 6, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel. Electronic address: vhasadka@volcani.agri.gov.il.
authors.forename: Avi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sadka
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA. Electronic address: eblumwald@ucdavis.edu.
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Blumwald
mesh_terms: D005030:Ethylenes / Q000378:metabolism; D005638:Fruit / Q000378:metabolism*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D027861:Prunus / Q000378:metabolism*; D013012:Sorbitol
chemical_list: D005030:Ethylenes; D013012:Sorbitol; C036216:ethylene
keywords: Bud sport mutant; Delayed ripening; Ethylene; Non-climacteric ripening; Plum fruit development; Sorbitol metabolism