Premium
Protein and enzyme changes in tomato fruit in relation to blotchy ripening and potassium nutrition
Author(s) -
Hobson Graeme E.,
Davies Jack N.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.2740270104
Subject(s) - ripening , lycopersicon , potassium , biology , solanaceae , horticulture , enzyme , botany , chemistry , biochemistry , organic chemistry , gene
The effects of potasium deficiency and blotchy ripening in tomato fruit on some nitrogenous constituents, especially the proteins, have been investigated. The distribution of nitrogen in normal and potassium‐deficient fruit of the cherry tomato Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium was examined and compared with that from potassiumdeficient and blotchy ripened fruit of a cultivated variety ( L. esculentum , cv. Moneymaker). The protein fraction from cv. Amberley Cross was analysed in detail using disc gel electrophoresis. Changes induced by potassium deficiency in the general protein pattern and on a wide range of enzymes active in ripening were compared with the effects brought about by blotchy ripening. The distribution of protein components and isoenzymes in low potassium fruit was to a large extent similar to that of normal tissue at an earlier stage of development, whereas the alterations in blotchy tissue appeared to be of a random nature.