biologia plantarum

Biologia plantarum 48:49-53, 2004 | DOI: 10.1023/B:BIOP.0000024274.43874.5b

Antioxidant Systems in Ripening Tomato Fruits

K. Mondal¹, N.S. Sharma¹, S.P. Malhotra¹, K. Dhawan¹, R. Singh¹

¹ Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India

Two cultivars of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), Selection-7 (shelf life 7-8 d) and ARTH-3 (shelf life 14-15 d) were analyzed for oxidative stress and the antioxidant enzyme system at different stages of fruit ripening. The results presented here suggest that during the early stages of fruit ripening, efficient antioxidant system protects the tomato fruits against the damaging effect of progressive oxidative stress. At later stages, however, oxidative damage occurs due to decreased activities of the ROS scavenging enzymes.

Keywords: fruit softening; Lycopersicon esculentum; reactive oxygen species; scavenging enzymes

Subjects: antioxidants, fruit ripening; ascorbate peroxidase; cultivar and genotype differences, antioxidant systems, oxidative stress; dehydroascorbic acid, dehydroascorbate reductase; fruit ripening, oxidative stress; glutathione reductase; lipoxygenase; Lycopersicon esculentum; malonyldialdehyde; monodehydroascorbate reductase; oxidative stress, ripening fruits; peroxidase; reactive oxygen species (ROS); scavenging enzymes; superoxide dismutase; tomato, fruit ripening

Published: March 1, 2004  Show citation