Abstract
DESPITE several tracer studies1,2 and the use of very sensitive techniques for the detection of ethylene3,4, there has been no clear indication of a biosynthetic pathway that can evolve ethylene in fruits. Spencer5 reported ethylene production by cytoplasmic particles from tomato fruit in the presence of malate and co-factors. This suggested that the biosynthesis of ethylene could be related to the metabolism of organic acids in the cells. Tracer experiments by Burg2, however, showed no evidence linking ethylene evolution to Krebs cycle metabolism. Meigh et al.4 could not detect ethylene in incubation mixtures containing apple mitochondria, malate and co-factors. The latter experiments are especially significant since they used apple mitochondria known to metabolize Krebs-cycle substrates, and the system for detecting ethylene was considerably more sensitive than that used in any of the other investigations. It therefore appears that ethylene synthesis in fruits must be associated with some other aspect of organic acid metabolism.
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References
Buhler, D. R., Hansen, E., and Wong, L. H., Nature, 179, 48 (1957).
Burg, S. P., Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 84, 543 (1959).
Burg, S. P., and Thimann, K. V., Proc. U.S. Nat. Acad. Sci., 45, 335 (1959).
Meigh, D. F., Noris, K. H., Craft, C. C., and Lieberman, M., Nature, 186, 902 (1960).
Spencer, M. S., Nature, 184, 1231 (1959).
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LIEBERMAN, M., CRAFT, C. Ethylene Production by Cytoplasmic Particles from Apple and Tomato Fruits in the Presence of Thiomalic and Thioglycolic Acid. Nature 189, 243 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/189243a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/189243a0
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