Abstract
Fruit ripening is one of the developmental process accompanied with seed development. Tomato is well known as a model to study fruit ripening and development, and it is generally accepted that the disassembly of primary cell wall and middle lamella, including pectin depolymerization is remarkable change that occurs during its ripening. However, despite depolymerization of the pectin polymers during ripening, it does not directly affect to fruit softening, so the functions on pectin is not well understood. Although many reports of fruit ripening are focusing on the softening of pericarp, the changes during fruit ripening are might be unique between its tissues. In this study, to understand the tissue-specific roles of pectin during fruit development and ripening, we examined the gene expression, enzymatic activities, the cell wall composition, and Ca contents, involved in pectin synthesis and depolymerization in fruit. Our results show that changes of pectin property during fruit development and ripening have tissue-specific patterns.
