Effect of Alcohols and Their Interaction with Ethylene on the Ripening of Epidermal Pericarp Discs of Tomato Fruit

Abstract

Ethanol concentrations that were induced in pericarp discs of mature-green tomato fruit (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill, cv ethylene. Methanol and n-propanol also inhibited lycopene synthesis without significantly increasing ion leakage. The similar inhibitory effects of methanol, ethanol, and n-propanol at concentrations which did not stimulate ion leakage, and the relationship between activity and lipophilia of the alcohols suggest that their mode of action was through disruption of membranes associated with ethylene action.

Role of internal atmosphere on fruit ripening and storability—a review

“…Approximately 400 volatile compounds have been found in the ripening tomato fruit (Baldwin et al 1991;de Leon-Sanchez et al 2009). The volatiles present in fruits are as follows : ethylene, ethanol, acetaldehyde, methanol, acetone, butanol, ethane, hexanol, hexenol, 3-methyl butanal, ethyl acetate, propyl acetate, butyl acetate, propanol, acetate esters, ethyl butyrate, geraniol, octenal, octenol, citral, terpenes, carboxylic acids, sulphur compounds, ammonia, jasmonate, benzaldehyde and methyl salicylate besides other types of iso-, sec-or tert-alcohols, aromatic hydrocarbons, ketones, esters, aldehydes and higher carbon alcohols (Gustafson 1934;PetroTurza 1987;Saltveit 1989;Baldwin et al 1991;McDonald et al 1996;Toivonen 1997;Frenkel et al 1995;Speirs et al 1998;Baldwin et al 2000;Bai et al 2003;Pesis 2005;Cadwallader 2005;Negre-Zakharov et al 2009;Defilippi et al 2009;de Leon-Sanchez et al 2009). …”

Acetaldehyde Is a Causal Agent Responsible for Ethanol-Induced Ripening Inhibition in Tomato Fruit

“…If ethanol was the effective agent inducing ripening inhibition, then increasing tissue ethanol levels would further delay ripening, as is the case when fruit are treated exogenously with increasing levels of ethanol (Kelly and Saltveit, 1988;Saltveit and Mencarelli, 1988;Saltveit, 1989). However, even in the presence of excessive tissue ethanol, tissue ripened faster when ADH inhibitors reduced the conversion of ethanol to AA.…”

“…Adhering locular tissue was trimmed away with a razor blade to produce 4-mm-thick discs (0.627 2 0.048 g). Discs were rinsed three times with sterile, deionized water, carefully blotted dry, blocked by intensity of green color among treatments (Saltveit, 1989), and placed epidermis down into sterile Petri dishes or deep-well culture plates. Discs were kept at 20°C overnight (approximately 18 h) in a flow of humidified, C,H,-free air to allow dissipation of wound-induced C,H, (Saltveit, 1989).…”

“…If the inhibitory effect of AA on the ripening of climacteric fruit is ubiquitous, it may help explain why the application of ethanol to mango fruit (Burdon et al, 1994) has no effect on ripening, whereas applications of AA have profound ripening-related effects (Burdon et al, 1996). Endogenous ethanol, whether induced by anaerobic fermentation (Kelly and Saltveit, 1988) or by exogenous application of ethanol (Saltveit, 1989), inhibits the ripening of tomato fruit (Saltveit and Sharaf, 1992;Pesis and Marinansky, 1993), as does the exogenous application of AA (Pesis and Marinansky, 1993). Applying exogenous AA and ethano1 to excised discs of tomato pericarp tissue and monitoring endogenous levels of AA and ethanol as well as the synthesis of C,H, and lycopene, has shown that ripening inhibition (i.e.…”

“…Given the interconversion of AA and ethanol by ADH, it is difficult to resolve how applied AA or ethanol can have such diverse effects as enhancing the organoleptic quality of fruits and inhibiting or promoting fruit ripening while increasing or decreasing C,H, production. Further confusion arises when one considers that exposure to low concentrations of ethanol vapors stimulates tomato fruit ripening (Beaulieu and Saltveit, 1997), whereas exposure to high concentrations inhibits ripening and suppresses C,H, action (Saltveit, 1989). Therefore, the objectives of this research were to determine whether inhibition of tomato fruit ripening was attributed to AA or to ethanol and to determine the relative importance of endogenous ethanol and AA in retarding fruit ripening by applying vapors to tomato tissue after previous applications Plant Physiol.…”