, 2003, Redondo-Nevado et al., 2001, Salentijn et al., 2003 and Trainotti et al., 2001). However, the exact mechanism involving these proteins and fruit firmness reduction is not completely understood

( Folta and Davis, 2006, Redondo-Nevado et al., 2001 and Salentijn et al., 2003). Another important change that occurs during maturation, involves anthocyanin biosynthesis which is derived from the shikimic acid pathway in the plastids ( Barsan et al., 2010) and completed in the cytosol with participation of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) and anthocyanidin synthase (ANS) ( Almeida et al., 2007). In addition to anthocyanins, other phenolic compounds such as gallic acid are also synthesized in the cytosol and are present in significant amounts in vacuoles Selleckchem Luminespib ( Russell, Labat, Scobbie, Duncan, & Duthie, 2009). Strawberry is a well known source of l-ascorbic acid (AA) and its oxidation product, dehydroascorbic acid, which are both active in oxidative stress reactions (Nascimento, Higuchi, Gómes, Oshiro, & Lajolo, 2005). Galunisertib Wheeler, Jones, and Smirnoff

(1998) proposed a pathway for the biosynthesis of AA in plants from glucose-6-phosphate that includes l-galactose oxidation by l-galactose dehydrogenase (LGalDH), which supplies a substrate for l-galactono-1,4-lactone dehydrogenase (GLDH), the last enzyme involved in this pathway. Strawberry volatiles, responsible for its typical

aroma (Aharoni et al., 2000 and Folta and Davis, 2006), are compounds resulting from the esterification of alcohols and have amino acids, fatty acids and carotenes as precursors. Biosynthesis of esters has been extensively studied in melon, apple and strawberry (Aharoni et al., 2000, Lucchetta et al., 2007 and Souleyre et al., 2005). The key enzymes in this Thalidomide pathway are alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs) that act in reducing aldehydes to alcohols, and alcohol acyltransferases (AATs) that act during the final step of esterification. ADH2 was identified as the major gene encoding the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme responsible for ester production during tomato fruit maturation ( Longhurst, Tung, & Brady, 1990). Three AAT genes (AAT1, AAT3 and AAT4) have been characterised in melon and are known to have increased expression during maturation ( Lucchetta et al., 2007). In apple, AAT1 is highly associated with the production of esters ( Souleyre et al., 2005). In strawberry, Aharoni et al. (2000) characterised an AAT enzyme associated with the production of esters typical of strawberry aroma, such as ethyl butanoate and ethyl hexanoate.