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Control and manipulation of gene expression during tomato fruit ripening

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Abstract

Ripening is a complex developmental process involving changes in the biochemistry, physiology and gene expression of the fruit. It is an active process characterised by changes in all cellular compartments. cDNA cloning has been used as an approach to analyse changes in gene expression during fruit ripening. This has revealed that several genes are switched on specifically during fruit ripening, including one encoding polygalacturonase (PG), a major cell wall protein. These cDNA clones have been used to study the expression of the genes in normal and ripening mutant fruits, and under environmental stress conditions.

The PG gene has been isolated and it has been demonstrated that 1450 bases 5′ of the coding region are sufficient for the tissue- and development-specific expression of a bacterial marker gene in transgenic tomatoes. Antisense RNA techniques have been developed to generate novel mutant tomatoes in which the biochemical function of this enzyme and its involvement in fruit softening has been tested.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICI Seeds Plant Biotechnology Section, Jealott's Hill Research Station, RG12 6EY, Bracknell, Berkshire, UK

    Wolfgang Schuch, Colin R. Bird & John Ray

  2. Department of Physiology and Environmental Science, University of Nottingham, Faculty of agricultural Science, Sutton Bonington, LE12 5 RD, Loughborough, UK

    Christopher J. S. Smith, Colin F. Watson, Peter C. Morris, Julie E. Gray, Christine Arnold, Graham B. Seymour & Donald Grierson

  3. Department of Applied Biochemistry and Food Science, University of Nottingham, Faculty of Agricultural Science, Sutton Bonington, LE12 5RD, Loughborough, UK

    Gregory A. Tucker

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  1. Wolfgang Schuch
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  2. Colin R. Bird
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  4. Christopher J. S. Smith
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  5. Colin F. Watson
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  6. Peter C. Morris
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  7. Julie E. Gray
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  8. Christine Arnold
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  9. Graham B. Seymour
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  10. Gregory A. Tucker
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  11. Donald Grierson
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Schuch, W., Bird, C.R., Ray, J. et al. Control and manipulation of gene expression during tomato fruit ripening. Plant Mol Biol 13, 303–311 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00025318

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