RT Conference Proceedings
T1 AFM study of strawberry pectin nanostructure and its relevance on fruit texture
A1 Pose-Albacete, Sara
A1 Santiago-Doménech, Nieves
A1 Matas-Arroyo, Antonio Javier
A1 Kirby, Andrew R.
A1 Gunning, A. Patrick
A1 Morris, Victor J.
A1 Quesada-Felice, Miguel Ángel
A1 Mercado-Carmona, José Ángel
A1 Paniagua Correas, Candelas
K1 Agrofísica
AB Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been used to characterize the nanostructure of cell wall pectins during strawberry fruit growth and ripening, as well as in transgenic fruits with pectinase genes downregulated. This technique allows the imaging of individual polymers at high magnification with minimal sample preparation. AFM studies during fruit development show that pectin size, ramification and aggregation is reduced in ripe fruits. Additionally, transgenic lines with different pectinase genes downregulated (polygalacturonase, pectate lyase and B-galactosidase) also show a more complex pectin nanostructure, including longer chains, higher branching degree and larger presence of aggregates. In all those cases the higher pectincomplexity at nanoscale correlates with a reduced softening in strawberry fruits at macroscale level. Globally, our results support the key role of pectins in fruit structure and highlights the use of AFM as a powerful tool to gain insights about thebases of textural fruit quality not only in strawberry, but also in other commercial crops.
YR 2018
FD 2018-10-17
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/16625
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/16625
LA eng
NO AGL2017-86531-C2-1-R, Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad of Spain and FEDER EU funds.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech.
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 27 feb 2026