Fruit firmness

Fruit Firmness (Stewart Dalton, Spring 2013)

-http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/37/2/386.full.pdf

-Softening occurs with enzymatic digestion of cell wall components such as pectin, cellulose and hamicellulose.

-Pectin decreases as blueberries ripen from green to to blue- degradation of the cell wall and middle lamella is directly responsible for the loss of firmness in ripening fruits.

-Fruit frimness is an important economic trait in blueberries for many reasons.

-Expansin protein family- necessary for softening process. Expression of expansin mRNA and protein is correlated with growth and/or cell wall disassembly (Dotto et al, 2005)