Fruit ripening, ethylene

Chloroethylphosphonic acid, Ethrek Q-CH2-CH2-P0(0H)2, a synthetic growth regulator, which generates ethylene (fruit ripening hormone). It is used for the loosening of Primus its, and to stimulate the flowering of pineapple. 

Delayed fruit ripening due to reduced ethylene synthesis... 

Tomato Agritrope/1996 5-Adenosylmethionine hydrolase Escherichia coli bacteriophage T3 Delayed fruit ripening due to reduced ethylene synthesis... 

Despite the potent influence of ethylene on the whole plant development, most often it has been recognized as a fruit-ripening and senescence-associated hormone. With respect to the gaseous nature of this hormone, the knowledge about ethylene sensitivity of fruit and flower is necessary to predict the effects of their mixed storage and transport and the usefulness of anti-ethylene treatments. Such commercial implications of ethylene have made it a topic of investigation for decades. 

The changes in the production of volatile aroma compounds during fruit ripening seemed to be mediated by ethylene. The production of most terpenes during ripening of the Kensington Pride mango has been reported to occur parallel... 

Mita, S. Kawamura, S. Yamawaki, K. Nakamura, K. Hyodo, H. Differential expression of genes involved in the biosynthesis and perception of ethylene during ripening of passion fruit (Passiflora edulis Sims). Plant Cell Physiol., 39, 1209-1217 (1998)... 

Synthesis of ethylene, a gaseous plant hormone involved in fruit ripening and flower senescence. 

Davies, K.M. Grierson, D. (1989). Identification of cDNA clones for tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) mRNAs that accumulate during fruit ripening and leaf senescence in response to ethylene. Planta 179, 73-80. 

Fruit tissues respond to ethylene by exhibiting increases in the activities of enzymes that catalyze ripening reactions, and in some cases, the increases in enzyme activity probably are the result of de novo synthesis, rather than activation of preexisting enzymes. Other target tissues respond similarly to ethylene. But it is not known whether ethylene acts directly to evoke new enzyme production. Interpretation of results with inhibitors of RNA and protein synthesis is inconclusive, because it could be merely that RNA and protein synthesis are essential to maintain the cells in a state competent to respond to ethylene. Moreover, there are some responses to ethylene, besides fruit ripening, which occur under conditions which apparently do not directly involve RNA and protein synthesis (e.g., membrane permeability changes). It has been proposed that the in vivo ethylene receptor site contains a metal such as copper (34,35). 

In contrast to complex auxins, gibberellins, and cytokinins, ethylene is a simple gaseous compound. In 1932, it was discovered that ethylene would promote flowering in pineapples. The subsequent discovery of the role of ethylene in fruit ripening has been of considerable commercial importance in the banana and citrns industries. 

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