Changes in the cell wall during fruit development and ripening in Fragaria vesca

Abstract Although fruit expansion during ripening has been extensively studied, the structural and metabolic mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here, we report the critical roles of cell separation and cell wall metabolism in the coordinated regulation of fruit expansion in Fragaria vesca. Anatomical observations indicated that a syndrome of cell separation occurred from the very earliest stage of fruit set. Cell separation led to an increase in apoplastic space, and the time course of this increase coincided with the period of fruit development and ripening. Moreover, massive cellulose disassembly occurred when cells were fully separated, which coincided with the expansion of cell and fruit volume. Consistent with the anatomical observations, both histochemistry and composition analysis indicated correlations between cell separation and the cell wall metabolism. These observations suggest that cell separation, cell elongation and cell wall disassembly occur simultaneously during fruit ripening in Fragaria vesca.