The changes that occur in fleshy fruits during ripening make them more susceptible than unripe fruits to infection by bacteria and fungi. The challenge for fruit production is to balance fruit ripening and pathogen resistance to maintain fruit quality after harvest. Understanding the processes underlying ripening control and pathogen response may provide new approaches to improve the engineering of fruit quality and pathogen resistance.
Ethylene response factor (ERF) transcription factors play an important role in various aspects of fruit ripening, as well as in the resistance of fleshy fruits to pathogens.
Researchers from the Wuhan Botanical Garden (WBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with collaborators from the University of Nottingham and Zhejiang University, reviewed and summarized current studies on ERFs in fruit ripening and fruit pathogen resistance, as part of an investigation into new approaches to alter transcriptional regulation to improve fruit quality and pathogen resistance.
According to researchers, fleshy fruits are classified into climacteric (peach, durian, apple, banana, papaya, mango) or non-climacteric (citrus, strawberry, watermelon, grape) types. As summarized by the ERF study on these fleshy fruits, it is widely reported that ERFs are involved in the regulation of ripening and responses to fungal, bacterial and viral infections.
Different ERFs regulate aspects of maturation and responses to infection and are involved in the stress-related synthesis of pathogenesis-related proteins, ethylene phytohormones, and jasmonic acid signaling pathways. For example, in tomatoes, key ERF genes are recognized to regulate ripening, responses to infection, or both have been identified.
Further investigation of the molecular mechanism and regulatory interactions between these regulators could reveal opportunities for improving resistance and fruit quality.
Relevant results have been published in cellstitled “Contrasting roles of ethylene response factors in pathogen response and fleshy fruit ripening”.
Regulation of fleshy fruit ripening: from transcription factors to epigenetic modifications
Shan Li et al, Contrasting roles of ethylene response factors in pathogen response and fleshy fruit ripening, cells (2022). DOI: 10.3390/cells11162484
Provided by Chinese Academy of Sciences
Quote: The Role of Ethylene Response Factors in Regulating Fruit Ripening and Response to Pathogens (2022, October 25) Retrieved October 25, 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022- 10-role-ethylene-response-factors-fruit.html
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