A research team led by Professor Liu Mingchun from Sichuan University recently published new findings in the journal Horticulture Research, discovering that gibberellins can affect multiple hormone pathways to regulate tomato fruit ripening and softening.

 

The researchers found that endogenous gibberellin levels gradually declined as tomatoes ripened. Meanwhile, two ripening mutant fruits showed significantly higher gibberellin levels compared to wild-type. Exogenous gibberellin treatment or overexpressing gibberellin biosynthesis genes could delay wild-type fruit ripening. This indicates gibberellins are negatively correlated with fruit ripening. Interestingly, exogenous ethylene treatment could not fully restore the delayed ripening caused by gibberellin, suggesting gibberellins' effect on inhibiting ripening may not completely rely on suppressing ethylene.

 

Through transcriptomic analysis, the researchers further discovered that gibberellin treatment altered the expression of key genes involved in multiple hormone synthesis and signaling pathways. This implies gibberellins may coordinately control fruit ripening and senescence by affecting various hormone pathways. These findings reveal the potential regulatory role of gibberellins in the ripening of non-climacteric fruits, providing new insights into the molecular mechanisms of fruit ripening.