Abstract
Jasmonates are lipid-derived compounds regarded as "non traditional" plant hormones which exert numerous effects on plant growth and development. In recent years, it is well known that jasmonates are important as a mediator of wound- and stress-induced signal transduction and induce expression of a variety of genes involved in defensive response. And it also has been revealed that jasmonates plays an important role in fruits ripening. In some fruits, It is reported that the endogenous concentration of jasmonates increases during the onset of fruits ripening, and that the application of exogenous concentration of jasmonates stimulates ethylene production and color change.
To determine if jasmonates affect the expression of the genes involved in ripening, such as ethylene biosynthesis, we examined the change of the mRNA levels encoding these genes. Treatment of breaker stage tomato disks with methyl jasmonate promoted the accumulation of mRNA for ACC oxidase, but ACC synthase 4.
