Fruits: A Developmental Perspective.

Abstract

Embryonic development in many angiosperms occurs concomitantly with the development of the ovary into a specialized organ, the fruit, which provides a suitable environment for seed maturation and often a mechanism for the dispersa1 of mature seeds, as Darwin observed. Despite centuries of intensive genetic selection of agriculturally valuable fruit, we still lack most information about how fruits develop, how this development is coordinated with embryonic development and seed formation, and the molecular, cellular, and physiological events that control fruit growth and differentiation. The last 10 years have seen a rapid surge of information on one commercially important aspect of fruit development, fruit ripening, including the genetic control of temporal events during the ripening phase (Theologis, 1992; Theologis et al., 1992). However, fewer advances have been made on temporal and spatial controls of fruit set and growth, although from the agricultura1 point of view, these aspects are of equally critical importance. We will provide a perspective on the molecular, cellular, and physiological mechanisms that must be considered as integral parts of the fruit developmental process. The discussion below will illustrate that fruit development is a potentially useful system to learn more about complex regulatory mechanisms that control the division, growth, and differentiation of plant cells.