Ultrastructural development of plastids in cherry peppers during fruit ripening

Abstract

The fine structure of plastids in the fruit of cherry peppers was studied during the various stages of ripening. The color change of fruit during ripening is due to the quantitative change of such pigment components as chlorophyll, carotenoid and anthocyanin. Plastid metamorphosis takes place in relationship to the disappearance of chlorophyll and the new formation of carotenoids. The membrane system of plastids degenerates through ripening, although a little differentiation is observed in young plastids of creamy fruits. In parallel wity the color change of fruit from cream to orange, the osmiophilic globules increase in both number and size. As ripening proceeds further, the large osmiophilic globules seem to be gradually transformed into the needle shaped crystalloids of carotenoid pigments which are the remarkable feature of the chromoplasts in red-ripe fruit. The relationship between the development of chromoplasts and the increase and decrease of some pigments is also discussed.