Promotion by Ethylene of the Capability to Convert 1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic Acid to Ethylene in Preclimacteric Tomato and Cantaloupe Fruits

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Abstract
The intact fruits of preclimacteric tomato or cantaloupe produced very little ethylene and had low capability of converting 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) to ethylene. When these unripe tomato or cantaloupe fruits were treated with ethylene for 16 h there was no increase in ACC content or in ethylene production rate, but the tissue''s capability to convert ACC to ethylene increase markedly. Such an effect was also observed in fruits of tomato mutants rin and nor, which do not undergo ripening and the climacteric increase in ethylene production during the senescence. The development of this ethylene-forming capability induced by ethylene increased with increasing ethylene concentration (from 0.1-100 .mu.l/l) and duration (1-24 h), when ethylene was removed this capability remained high for sometime (> 24 h). Norbornadiene, a competitive inhibitor of ethylene action, effectively eliminated the promotive effect of ethylene in tomato fruit. The development of the capability to convert ACC to ethylene in preclimacteric tomato and cantaloupe fruits apparently are sensitive to ethylene treatment and when these fruits are exposed to exogenous ethylene, the increase in ethylene-forming enzyme precedes the increase in ACC synthase.