Degradation of Cell Wall Polysaccharides during Tomato Fruit Ripening

Changes in neutral sugar, uronic acid, and protein content of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) cell walls during ripening were characterized. The only components to decline in amount were galactose, arabinose, and galacturonic acid. Isolated cell walls of ripening fruit contained a water-soluble polyuronide, possibly a product of in vivo polygalacturonase action. This polyuronide and the one obtained by incubating walls from mature green fruit with tomato polygalacturonase contained relatively much less neutral sugar than did intact cell walls. The ripening-related decline in galactose and arabinose content appeared to be separate from polyuronide solubilization. In the rin mutant, the postharvest loss of these neutral sugars occurred in the absence of polygalacturonase and polyuronide solubilization. The enzyme(s) responsible for the removal of galactose and arabinose was not identified; a tomato cell wall polysaccharide containing galactose and arabinose (6:1) was not hydrolyzed by tomato beta-galactosidase.