Recently, transcription profiling of ripening tomatoes has provided some information about genes involved in fruit maturation and ripening. Nevertheless, many fundamental molecular mechanisms need to be better investigated. Besides, despite their deep impact on fruit development, very little is known about the regulation of photosensory and light signalling genes during fruit ripening. Using the Tom1 microarray, we have compared the extent of transcriptional changes in three different stages of fruit development (immature green, breaker, and fully ripe) versus leaf in the cultivar Money Maker. The extent of transcriptional modulation was confirmed through quantitative real time RT-PCR on selected genes, showing significant levels of regulation during fruit development. Furthermore, real-time RT-PCR was used to study the regulation of transcripts encoding photosensory receptors, light signalling proteins, and carotenoid biosynthesis genes. Some of these transcripts are highly regulated during tomato fruit development, suggesting that light responsiveness of carotenoid biosynthesis tomato fruits could be at least partially regulated at the transcriptional level. © 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

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