Recent Posts

A transcriptional network that controls strawberry fruit ripening

Xiaojing Li and Guozheng Qin, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences Background: Strawberry is an important horticultural crop with a high economic value worldwide. Various factors regulate the ripening of strawberry fruit, including the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA), epigenetic modifications,…

Mechanism behind ripened green bananas under high temperature

Heat stress is a common consequence of global warming for terrestrial plants, and it can have devastating effects on growth and yield. In terms of fruit ripening, high temperature is one of the most significant abiotic stresses inhibiting quality formation. During fruit ripening, chlorophyll breaks down…

A molecular framework for ethylene-mediated tomato fruit development

Huang et al. unravel the roles of ethylene in tomato fruit growth and ripening.  Background: Fruit development is an intriguing evolutionary strategy that functions in both seed protection and seed dispersal. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) has long been used as a model system to uncover mechanisms…

Nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR 5 mediated by nitric oxide suppresses ethylene biosynthesis in apple fruit (New Phytol.)

Mechanisms of phytohormone modulation and their interface with other regulatory molecules are still being uncovered. Nitric oxide (NO) is a regulatory molecule which has been shown to affect ethylene biosynthesis through the action of ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR 5 (ERF5) in apple fruit. New work by Ji et…