What happens in a fleshy fruit during the maturation process?
The secret of this transformation lies in the enzymes, which are activated by transforming some complex substances into smaller molecules. For example:
- Chlorophyll, a notoriously green pigment, is reduced to simpler molecules, sometimes with the formation of new pigments, such as carotenoids, xanthophylls and anthocyanins, which give their ripe fruit color.
- Some cells begin to accumulate different substances in the vacuoles, increasing in volume and enriching themselves with molecules until they reach the characteristic composition of the ripe fruit.
- Starches, floury, are reduced to sugars, sweets.
- Pectin macromolecules are reduced (hydrolyzed) to pectic acids, softening the pulp and peel of the fruit.
In many cases (but not for all fruits), the signal that starts all these transformations is ethylene, a gas produced with the ripening of the fruit. This gas activates the genes that lead to the synthesis of the aforementioned enzymes responsible for maturation.
Not by chance, the fruits that release ethylene (like apples and pears) are exploited by the industry to complete the ripening of unripe harvested fruits.
