Annals of Botany 92: 65-72, 2003
© 2003 Annals of Botany Company
A Model for an Early Stage of Tomato Fruit Development: Cell Multiplication and Cessation of the Cell Proliferative Activity
1 Unité Plantes et Systèmes de culture Horticoles, INRA, Site Agroparc, F-84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France and 2 Department of Statistics and Operations Research, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center,Bet-Dagan 50250, Israel
* For correspondence. Fax +(33) (0)4 32722282, e-mail nadia.bertin{at}avignon.inra.fr
Received: 14 August 2002; Returned for revision: 20 January 2003; Accepted: 25 March 2003
Changes in cell number during the early period of tomato fruit development were analysed by means of a deterministic model of cell multiplication. The period commenced at the seed stage with one theoretical cell undergoing intensive cell division, and ended when the cell number became nearly constant. The model takes into consideration the proliferative activity of the fruit cell population which, a few days before flower anthesis, begins to decrease progressively after each mitotic cycle. Model parameters, namely the time at which proliferative activity diminishes, its rate of decrease and the length of the cell cycle, were estimated by fitting the model to observed cell population dynamics in tomato fruits growing in three different positions on the truss. It is hypothesized that the molecular mechanism responsible for the cessation of mitosis in growing fruits is associated with shortening of telomeric ends of nuclear DNA, as suggested previously for other growing cell populations.
Key words: Cell division, fruit growth, Lycopersicon esculentum, mitosis cessation, model, telomere, tomato.
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