Climacteric vs Non-climacteric

Fruits can be divided into two groups according to the regulatory mechanisms underlying their
ripening process. Climacteric fruit, such as tomato, apple, pear, and melon are characterized
by a ripening-associated increase in respiration and in ethylene production, the phytohormone
ethylene being the major trigger and coordinator of the ripening process. By contrast, nonclimacteric fruits, such as grape, orange and pineapple, are characterized by the lack of
ethylene-associated respiratory peak and the signaling pathways that drive the ripening process
remain elusive. The identification of regulatory or structural genes controlling fruit development
and ripening is a necessary step towards enlarging our understanding of the fruit biology and
hence opening new leads for improving fruit quality traits.
However, the regulatory mechanisms common to both climacteric and non-climacteric fruit
remain elusive. Their identification would have major consequences, not only in fundamental
research aiming at deciphering the interplay between hormones and the main regulatory
networks in plants, but also in terms of opening new avenues for commercial application. New
tools for cross-species comparison allow now gene discovery in tomato and grape. In the recent
period, systematic comparisons have been performed at the transcriptome level between fruit
belonging to the same genus, the same family (Solanaceae, Moore et al. 2002) but also between
fruit from distantly related families like tomato and grape (Solanaceae and Vitacea). These
studies highlighted the interest of such approaches for deciphering the metabolic pathways
leading to the accumulation of compounds (vitamin C, carotenoids, anthocyanins, organic
acids) with high nutritional or sensorial value in the fruit, and for understanding the regulation
of fruit-specific processes such as ripening.