ABSTRACT
Comparative proteomics has emerged as a powerful tool used to study complex biological processes in fruits throughout their development and ripening. This is greatly aided by the rapid growth of genomics, transcriptomics, and expressed sequence tag (EST) databases, which allow for protein identication and pave the way for systems analyses and inference of molecular data. Fruit development and ripening are complex developmental processes that involve well-coordinated biological programs, the knowledge of which has valuable economic ramications centered on the agricultural industry. Besides, fruit ripening is accompanied by numerous phenotypic and physiological changes, such as skin and hypanthium color and increase in sugar levels, which are regulated by environmental factors such as light and temperature and internal factors such as hormonal and gene regulation. The latter is key in the classication of fruit species in their respective climacteric and nonclimacteric categories. Comparative proteomics is therefore a useful tool to gain information on the molecular events taking place during fruit maturation, in addition to nding biotechnological strategies to improve horticultural traits such as fruit quality, shelf life, and yield. In this chapter, an overview of methods utilized in fruit proteomics, as well as a global proteome and systems biology analysis of fruits during ripening, is presented.
