Nanoselenium application improves post-harvest fruit quality and disease resistance in tomato.

Fruits constitute a vital component of a nutritious diet but are highly perishable, contributing substantially to food waste. Consequently, identifying safe and edible biological agents to enhance product quality and extend shelf life is of critical importance. In this study, we demonstrate that exogenous pre-harvest foliar application with nanoselenium (nano-Se) in tomato enhances fruit quality, prolongs fruit shelf life, and enhances the resistance of tomato fruit to Botrytis cinerea infection.

The mechanistic insights into fruit ripening: integrating phytohormones, transcription factors, and epigenetic modification.

Fruit ripening is a complex developmental process tightly regulated by hormonal crosstalk, transcriptional networks, and epigenetic modifications, with striking divergence between climacteric and non-climacteric species. In climacteric fruits, such as tomatoes, apples, and bananas, ethylene acts as the master regulator, driving autocatalytic biosynthesis through ACS/ACO genes and activating hierarchical transcriptional cascades mediated by MADS-box (RIN), NAC (NOR), and ERF-family transcription factors. These pathways are amplified by epigenetic reprogramming, including DNA demethylation at ripening-related promoters and histone acetylation, which enhance chromatin accessibility to facilitate gene expression.

SlPLT6 controls ripening initiation and quality traits through modulation of histone acetylation and methylation in tomato.

Improving fruit growth and quality without compromising yield is a highly sought-after goal in crop breeding. Here, we report that an EAR motif-containing transcription factor SlPLT6 controls the onset of fruit ripening and quality traits in tomato. knockout caused precocious ripening initiation and enhanced fruit qualities without penalizing yield in two tomato cultivars.

Transition to ripening in tomato requires hormone-controlled genetic reprogramming initiated in gel tissue.

Ripening is the last stage of the developmental program in fleshy fruits. During this phase, fruits become edible and acquire their unique sensory qualities and post-harvest potential. Although our knowledge of the mechanisms that regulate fruit ripening has improved considerably over the past decades, the processes that trigger the transition to ripening remain poorly deciphered.

Overexpression of bHLH95, a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor family member, impacts trichome formation via regulating gibberellin biosynthesis in tomato.

Trichomes are epidermal protuberances on aerial parts of plants known to play an important role in biotic and abiotic stresses. To date, our knowledge of the regulation of trichome formation in crop species is very limited. Through phenotyping of the Solanum pennellii×S.

Trichome regulator SlMIXTA-like directly manipulates primary metabolism in tomato fruit.

Trichomes are storage compartments for specialized metabolites in many plant species. In trichome, plant primary metabolism is significantly changed, providing substrates for downstream secondary metabolism. However, little is known of how plants coordinate trichome formation and primary metabolism regulation.