Changes in gene expression profile during fruit development determine fruit quality

Abstract

Climacteric fruit maturation is polygenic, complex process. Gene activity has a significant effect on the quality characteristics of the fruit for harvest and storage. Existing methods generally allow determining the degree of ripeness at harvest (point '0'). Since there is no method defining onset of the climacteric stage of the fruits, an attempt to identify the functional molecular marker that would determine a physiological ripeness of the fruit several days in advance before harvest was conducted. The analysis of changes in transcript of ten selected genes, and evaluation of the correlation of these genes with changes in fruits quality of two apple varieties Golden Delicious (winter cv.) and McIntosh (autumn cv.), allowed to identify a potential marker, activated a few days before harvesting the fruits. Overexpression of the starch glucosidase gene (StG) in the late fruits has been observed prior to the onset of ethylene production. The results confirm that it could be a potential functional marker useful for assessment of physiological ripeness status of cvs Golden Delicious and McIntosh.