Suberization of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) locule tissue

It was demonstrated by electron microscopy that wounded and cultured tomato fruit outer placental (locule) tissue generated lamellated (secondary) walls. BF3 – methanol depolymerization of an extract from these walls and its chromatographic analysis showed the presence of the polymer suberin in the tissue adjacent to the wound after 7 days in culture. Quantitative studies using Iatroscan thin-layer chromatography coupled with flame ionization detection showed close similarities between the aliphatics of this wound suberin (which constituted 70% of the total monomers recovered) and that generated by protoplasts isolated from the same tissue, particularly among the monofunctional products, but some striking differences among the difunctional products. It is proposed that the results support the concept that protoplast isolation elicits a wound response similar to that elicited by mechanical wounding of the mother tissue, but that the physiological conditions obtained during protoplast isolation and culture ...