Evolution of Protein Molecules

Fruiting structures in the angiosperms range from completely dry to highly fleshy organs and provide many of our major crop products, including grains. In the model plant Arabidopsis, which has dry fruits, a high-level regulatory network of transcription factors controlling fruit development has been revealed. Studies on rare nonripening mutations in tomato, a model for fleshy fruits, have provided new insights into the networks responsible for the control of ripening. It is apparent that there are strong similarities between dry and fleshy fruits in the molecular circuits governing development and maturation. Translation of information from tomato to other fleshy-fruited species indicates that regulatory networks are conserved across a wide spectrum of angiosperm fruit morphologies. Fruits are an essential part of the human diet, and recent developments in the sequencing of angiosperm genomes have provided the foundation for a step change in crop improvement through the understanding and harnessing of genome-wide genetic and epigenetic variation.

Fruit development and ripening.

Recent years have witnessed great developments in biobased polymer packaging films for the serious environmental problems caused by the petroleum-based nonbiodegradable packaging materials. Chitosan is one of the most abundant biopolymers after cellulose. Chitosan-based materials have been widely applied in various fields for their biological and physical properties of biocompatibility, biodegradability, antimicrobial ability, and easy film forming ability. Different chitosan-based films have been fabricated and applied in the field of food packaging. Most of the review papers related to chitosan-based films are focusing on antibacterial food packaging films. Along with the advances in the nanotechnology and polymer science, numerous strategies, for instance direct casting, coating, dipping, layer-by-layer assembly, and extrusion, have been employed to prepare chitosan-based films with multiple functionalities. The emerging food packaging applications of chitosan-based films as antibacterial films, barrie...

Emerging Chitosan-Based Films for Food Packaging Applications

Grape berry development is a dynamic process that involves a complex series of molecular genetic and biochemical changes divided into three major phases. During initial berry growth (Phase I), berry size increases along a sigmoidal growth curve due to cell division and subsequent cell expansion, and organic acids (mainly malate and tartrate), tannins, and hydroxycinnamates accumulate to peak levels. The second major phase (Phase II) is defined as a lag phase in which cell expansion ceases and sugars begin to accumulate. Veraison (the onset of ripening) marks the beginning of the third major phase (Phase III) in which berries undergo a second period of sigmoidal growth due to additional mesocarp cell expansion, accumulation of anthocyanin pigments for berry color, accumulation of volatile compounds for aroma, softening, peak accumulation of sugars (mainly glucose and fructose), and a decline in organic acid accumulation. In order to understand the transcriptional network responsible for controlling berry development, mRNA expression profiling was conducted on berries of V. vinifera Cabernet Sauvignon using the Affymetrix GeneChip® Vitis oligonucleotide microarray ver. 1.0 spanning seven stages of berry development from small pea size berries (E-L stages 31 to 33 as defined by the modified E-L system), through veraison (E-L stages 34 and 35), to mature berries (E-L stages 36 and 38). Selected metabolites were profiled in parallel with mRNA expression profiling to understand the effect of transcriptional regulatory processes on specific metabolite production that ultimately influence the organoleptic properties of wine. Over the course of berry development whole fruit tissues were found to express an average of 74.5% of probes represented on the Vitis microarray, which has 14,470 Unigenes. Approximately 60% of the expressed transcripts were differentially expressed between at least two out of the seven stages of berry development (28% of transcripts, 4,151 Unigenes, had pronounced (≥2 fold) differences in mRNA expression) illustrating the dynamic nature of the developmental process. The subset of 4,151 Unigenes was split into twenty well-correlated expression profiles. Expression profile patterns included those with declining or increasing mRNA expression over the course of berry development as well as transient peak or trough patterns across various developmental stages as defined by the modified E-L system. These detailed surveys revealed the expression patterns for genes that play key functional roles in phytohormone biosynthesis and response, calcium sequestration, transport and signaling, cell wall metabolism mediating expansion, ripening, and softening, flavonoid metabolism and transport, organic and amino acid metabolism, hexose sugar and triose phosphate metabolism and transport, starch metabolism, photosynthesis, circadian cycles and pathogen resistance. In particular, mRNA expression patterns of transcription factors, abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis, and calcium signaling genes identified candidate factors likely to participate in the progression of key developmental events such as veraison and potential candidate genes associated with such processes as auxin partitioning within berry cells, aroma compound production, and pathway regulation and sequestration of flavonoid compounds. Finally, analysis of sugar metabolism gene expression patterns indicated the existence of an alternative pathway for glucose and triose phosphate production that is invoked from veraison to mature berries. These results reveal the first high-resolution picture of the transcriptome dynamics that occur during seven stages of grape berry development. This work also establishes an extensive catalog of gene expression patterns for future investigations aimed at the dissection of the transcriptional regulatory hierarchies that govern berry development in a widely grown cultivar of wine grape. More importantly, this analysis identified a set of previously unknown genes potentially involved in critical steps associated with fruit development that can now be subjected to functional testing.

/pdf/transcriptomic-and-metabolite-analyses-of-cabernet-sauvignon-26u70wgdhf.pdf

Transcriptomic and metabolite analyses of Cabernet Sauvignon grape berry development.

http://files.estruturasreprodutivasplantasvas.webnode.com/200000024-6600a66fa8/8_Ripening%20of%20fleshy%20fruit.pdf

Ripening of fleshy fruit: Molecular insight and the role of ethylene

Effectiveness of postharvest treatment with chitosan and other resistance inducers in the control of storage decay of strawberry

Background
The DefH9-iaaM gene fusion which is expressed specifically in placenta/ovules and promotes auxin-synthesis confers parthenocarpic fruit development to eggplant, tomato and tobacco. Transgenic DefH9-iaaM eggplants and tomatoes show increased fruit production due mainly to an improved fruit set. However, the weight of the fruits is also frequently increased.

/pdf/the-defh9-iaam-auxin-synthesizing-gene-increases-plant-2smdhlz5zk.pdf

The defH9-iaaM auxin-synthesizing gene increases plant fecundity and fruit production in strawberry and raspberry

Pre- and postharvest treatment with alternatives to synthetic fungicides to control postharvest decay of sweet cherry

The different types of organogenic (roots and adventitious shoots) and callus formation responses of leaves from 30-day-old proliferating shoots of different Fragaria spp. genotypes were studied in response to MS medium supplemented with 4.54 microM 1-phenyl-3-(1,2,3-thiadiazol-5-yl) urea (thidiazuron; TDZ) alone and in combination with 0.98 microM indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), 0.84 microM 3-benzo[b]selenienyl acetic acid (BSAA) or 0.90 microM 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D). The study included: nine octoploid Fragaria x ananassa cultivars and breeding selections; two octoploid breeding selections from F. virginiana glauca inter-species crosses; two diploid F. vesca cultivars; and one diploid clone of F. nubicola Lindl. TDZ plus IBA promoted the highest shoot regeneration efficiencies from leaves of nearly all of the genotypes, while the TDZ/BSAA and TDZ/2,4-D combinations promoted high regeneration efficiencies for only some of the genotypes (Alpina W.O., Sveva, AN 91.371.53, Onda, Paros and FO93.143.5). For the more efficient regenerating genotypes, IBA induced the highest frequency of regenerating leaves, while BSAA induced the highest number of regenerated shoots from leaves and more callus production for most of the genotypes.

TDZ, auxin and genotype effects on leaf organogenesis in Fragaria

Background
Efficient transformation and regeneration methods are a priority for successful application of genetic engineering to vegetative propagated plants such as grape. The current methods for the production of transgenic grape plants are based on Agrobacterium-mediated transformation followed by regeneration from embryogenic callus. However, grape embryogenic calli are laborious to establish and the phenotype of the regenerated plants can be altered.

/pdf/genetic-transformation-of-vitis-vinifera-via-organogenesis-3x9ds6zb9b.pdf

Lucia Landi

Papers

Effectiveness of postharvest treatment with chitosan and other resistance inducers in the control of storage decay of strawberry

The defH9-iaaM auxin-synthesizing gene increases plant fecundity and fruit production in strawberry and raspberry

Pre- and postharvest treatment with alternatives to synthetic fungicides to control postharvest decay of sweet cherry

TDZ, auxin and genotype effects on leaf organogenesis in Fragaria

Genetic transformation of Vitis vinifera via organogenesis