Ethylene
Signaling, Transgenics, and Applications in Crop Improvement
Pragati Kumari
Scientist Hostel-S-02, Chauras Campus, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India
Search for more papers by this authorRahul Thakur
Department of Biotechnology, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal (Central) University, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India
Search for more papers by this authorArvind Gupta
Department of Biotechnology, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal (Central) University, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India
Search for more papers by this authorSaurabh Yadav
Department of Biotechnology, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal (Central) University, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India
Search for more papers by this authorPragati Kumari
Scientist Hostel-S-02, Chauras Campus, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India
Search for more papers by this authorRahul Thakur
Department of Biotechnology, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal (Central) University, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India
Search for more papers by this authorArvind Gupta
Department of Biotechnology, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal (Central) University, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India
Search for more papers by this authorSaurabh Yadav
Department of Biotechnology, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal (Central) University, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India
Search for more papers by this authorDurgesh Kumar Tripathi
Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India
Search for more papers by this authorSummary
Since plants are immovable, they need an intricate network of phytohormones and well-developed signaling pathways to counter stress, grow, and develop throughout their life cycle. One of these is a well-known ripening hormone, ethylene, which helps coordinate the molecular events leading to fruit ripening. Ripening is the commercially relevant culmination of molecular events that help plant breeders and scientists learn more intricate details of this phenomenon, and farmers get immense benefit. This chapter discusses ethylene, its associated linear signaling pathway, its crosstalk with other hormones, their well-coordinated signaling with many transcription factors, genes related to metabolite biosynthesis, etc. Ripening causes many changes in aroma, color, and taste that increase fruit quality. The main objective of plant biotechnologists is to preserve the supply of seasonal fruits by maintaining taste, color, and shelf life so fruit is not destroyed during transportation. This is challenging as any softening or delay in reaching the market reduces the fruit's value. Plant biotechnology helps by developing crops with desired traits and a controlled ripening process. In these transgenic plants, many key genes are used to down-regulate and up-regulate the molecular events that lead to proper ripening.
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