ABSTRACT
Volatile compounds play key roles in the fruit, as they are involved in defense against pests and diseases, act as a cue to attract or repel seed dispersers, and are major components determining fruit flavor. In this chapter we describe the different types of volatile biosynthetic pathways operating in fruit and highlight the key steps by incorporating the latest advances from genomics and biochemistry. Ripe fruits typically produce a blend consisting of a few hundreds of volatile compounds of different chemical nature that originate from several independent metabolic pathways. To illustrate the diversity of volatiles pathways operating in different fruit specific sections are dedicated to each of the ten most produced/consumed fruit species. As fruit volatile production is a highly dynamic and tightly coordinated along the process of ripening and in response to environment this chapter also includes a section on the latest advances in the regulation of the biosynthesis of fruit volatiles.
