D.R. Dilley
The relationship of protein synthesis to ripening of Bartlett pears was determined by investigating several parameters of ripening under conditions of ‘steady-state’ or ‘new’ protein synthesis. The investigations were directed at the question of dependency of ripening on the activity of newly synthesized or pre-existing proteins. It was found that protein synthesis is required for normal fruit ripening and the proteins synthesized early in the ripening process include enzymes required for ripening.14C-Phenylalanine was incorporated into fruit proteins, which were subsequently separated by acrylamide gel electrophoresis, of fruits at various stages of ripening. Fruit ripening and ethylene synthesis are inhibited when protein synthesis is blocked by treatment with cycloheximide at the early-climacteric stage. However, once ripening progresses beyond a certain stage ripening, but not protein synthesis, proceeds equally well in the presence or absence of cycloheximide indicating that the enzymes involved in ripening are synthesized soon after ripening has been initiated. Ethylene does not overcome cycloheximide inhibition of ripening or protein synthesis. It is concluded that normal ripening of pear fruits requires the coordinated synthesis of enzymes whose concentrations are limiting the rate of the various ripening reactions. The synthesis of these enzymes takes place for the most part during the early stage of ripening before marked physical changes become apparent in the tissue. Ethylene is required in physiologically active concentrations in order to initiate this ripening syndrome and can act only if protein synthesis is allowed to proceed. Without ethylene, fruits which otherwise are ready to ripen continue to synthesize those proteins for which capacity already exists.
