Regulation of Ethylene Synthesis of Harvested Banana Fruit by 1-Methylcyclopropene

Ming-Jin Zhang¹, Yue-Ming Jiang², Wei-Bo Jiang¹* and Xue-Jun Liu<sup>3

1</sup>College of Food Science, China Agricultural University, PO Box 111, Qinghua Donglu No. 17, Beijing 100083, PR China
²South China Botanic Garden, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, PR China
³Laboratory of Postharvest Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Okayama University, 1-1 Naka 1-chome, Tsushima, Okayama 700–8530, Japan

Article history:
Received October 7, 2004
Accepted February 28, 2005

Key words:
1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid, banana, ethylene, 1-methylcyclopropene, respiration, synthesis

Summary:
Treatment with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), a potent inhibitor of ethylene action, delayed the decrease in fruit firmness and the time in peaks of respiration and ethylene production rates, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) concentration, and ACC oxidase (ACO) activity of banana fruit, but exogenous ethylene treatment was not able to induce fruit ripening when the fruit was treated with 200 nL/L of 1-MCP. Furthermore, 1-MCP treatment delayed expression of ACC synthase (ACS) and ACO genes, two ripening- related genes in ethylene synthesis. These results demonstrated that ripening process of banana fruit was delayed at a physiological level by 1-MCP, while ethylene synthesis could be regulated at suppressed transcript levels of ACS and ACO genes.

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