Characterization of Stone hardening during the peach fruit development

RODRIGUEZ, CARLOS; BUSTAMANTE, CLAUDIA; MÜLLER, GABRIELA L.; BUDDE, CLAUDIO OLAF; LARA, MARÍA VALERIA; DRINCOVICH, MARÍA FABIANA

Córdoba

Congreso; LII Reunión Anual de SAIB; 2016

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Bioquímica y Biología Molecular (SAIB)

Lignification of peach (Prunus persica) fruit endocarp involves astrictly coordinated process, which consists of ligninbiosynthesis, deposition in secondary cell wall andprogrammed cell death. Peach stones accumulate extremelyhigh lignin contents relative to other woody tissues. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms and regulations involved in lignin synthesis and the formation of stone could have importantimplications for forestry, forage and bioenergy crops.In the present work, total phenolic compounds, flavonoids andanthocyanins were quantified in different tissues (endocarp, mesocarp and exocarp) of the fruit during its development (from10 to 100 days after bloom) with the aim of evaluating the flow ofthese metabolites through the phenylpropanoid pathway. A sharp drop in the levels of phenolic compounds and flavonoids in endocarp in the earliest stages of development was observed. On the other hand, anthocyanins were not detected.The concentration of free amino acids in the different tissues ofthe fruit were also determined by high performance liquidchromatography in apolar phase, in order to correlate them tothe abrupt drop in total protein concentration recorded in thefruit during the early development. Interestingly, Asparagine ispresent in peaches at relatively high concentration in all stages and tissues analyzed.