Abstract
Tomato is a climacteric fruit whose ripening is induced by ethylene. Remarkable metabolic changes in tomato fruits occur during ripening, however, it is unclear which metabolites are affected by ethylene, and how ethylene controls metabolic pathways of these metabolites. To confirm metabolites responding to ethylene comprehensively, we investigated metabolic profiling of ripening-mutant tomato fruits. Mutant tomato fruits inhibiting ethylene production or perception (nor, rin and Nr) and their wild type (cv. Rutgers) were grown in the same condition and harvested at mature green stage and red-ripe stage of wild type. Primary metabolites were analyzed by GC-MS after TMS-derivatization, and approximately 100 metabolites were identified and compared. Secondary metabolites were analyzed by UPLC-TOFMS and their metabolic profiles were compared. The metabolite annotation data, consisting of about 800 metabolites, were used for prediction of structures of secondary metabolites. These comprehensive analyses enabled to discriminate the metabolite which is affected by ethylene.
