Abstract
Texture changes in ripening fruits influence consumer preference, fruit storability, transportability, shelf-life, and response to pathogen attack. Genetic regulatory factors as well as environmental conditions simultaneously affect texture changes in ripening fruit. Recent physiological and molecular studies provide insights into our knowledge and understanding of events and/or factors that contribute to changes in fruit texture, including softening and lignification. The roles of enzymes involved in modification and/or regulation of cell wall components as well as ethylene signaling components that play key roles in fruit textural changes during fruit ripening and storage will be presented and discussed. In addition, physical as well as chemical regulation of textural changes in ripening fruit will be explored.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The work was financially supported by the Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (30600423, 30771495, 30871759, 30800739, 30972059), the Special Scientific Research Fund of Agricultural Public Welfare Profession of China (200903044), the National Project of Scientific and Technical Supporting Programs Funded by Ministry of Science & Technology of China (2006BAD22B01, 2006BAD22B05), the Science and Technology Project of Zhejiang Province (2007C12069), the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (Z306010), the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (200803350091), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2009QNA6028), and the 111 project (No. B06014). We would like to thank Dr. Ian Ferguson for help and advice, and also Dr. Mosbah Kushad for his critical review and evaluation.