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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Physiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1422917

Unraveling Cell Wall Polysaccharides during Blueberry Ripening: Insights into the Roles of Rhamnogalacturonan-I and Arabinogalactan Proteins in Fruit Firmness

Provisionally accepted
Dayan Sanhueza Dayan Sanhueza 1Iván Balic-Norambuena Iván Balic-Norambuena 2Pablo Sepúlveda Pablo Sepúlveda 1Sebastián Siña- López Sebastián Siña- López 1Adrian A. Moreno Adrian A. Moreno 1Maria A. Moya-León Maria A. Moya-León 3Susana Saez-Aguayo Susana Saez-Aguayo 1*
  • 1 Andres Bello University, Santiago, Santiago Metropolitan Region (RM), Chile
  • 2 University of Los Lagos, Osorno, Los Lagos, Chile
  • 3 University of Talca, Talca, Chile

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum) undergo significant texture changes during development and ripening, notably a consistent decrease in firmness, which affects fruit quality, consumer preference, transportability, and shelf life. This study examined the composition and structural modifications of the cell wall in five commercially available 2 blueberry varieties with differing firmness levels at harvest. Our approach integrated various biochemical techniques for a comprehensive analysis of cell wall components to elucidate firmness differences at the harvest stage. One of the conclusions was the relationship between a low degree of pectin methylesterification and the presence of increased egg-box structures, which correlated with increased firmness. The data suggests that minor domains such as rhamnogalacturonan-I participate in firmness modulation through their side branches or by linking to arabinogalactan proteins. Additionally, the xyloglucan structure can be one of the determinants of fruit firmness. Although, this work provides, a broad insight into the relationship between cell wall composition and firmness in blueberry, a more detailed analysis, specifically focusing on pectin and hemicelluloses, would be of significant value.

    Keywords: Blueberry, cell wall domains, cell wall polysaccharides composition, hemicelluloses, Immuno-detection, Pectins

    Received: 24 Apr 2024; Accepted: 30 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Sanhueza, Balic-Norambuena, Sepúlveda, Siña- López, Moreno, Moya-León and Saez-Aguayo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Susana Saez-Aguayo, Andres Bello University, Santiago, 8320000, Santiago Metropolitan Region (RM), Chile

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.