Strawberry Fruit Softening: The Potential Roles of Polyuronides and Hemicelluloses

TLDR: In this article, the authors examined the cell walls of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa, Duch. Dover) receptacle tissue to determine if these wall polymers might be involved in softening of this fruit.

Abstract: Polyuronides and hemicelluloses derived from ethanol powders or cell walls of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa, Duch. Dover) receptacle tissue were examined to determine if these wall polymers might be involved in the softening of this fruit. Throughout maturation and ripening, total polyuronides increased on a per fruit basis although as a percentage of ethanol powder they remained constant. Gel-filtration chromatography confirmed that polyuronide solubility was not correlated with extensive enzymic hydrolysis, an observation consistent with the fact that D-galacturonanase (polygalacturonase) activity was not detected in strawberry fruit. The sugar composition of alkali-soluble wall polymers showed little change throughout development. However, changes occurred in the molecular weights of these polymers during ripening.