Quantitative Analysis of Cell Organization in the External Region of the Olive Fruit

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Definitions of the cells that constitute the exocarp or exterior tissue of fleshy fruits are often vague, sometimes providing contradictory descriptions of the epidermis plus none or varying numbers of underlying cell layers for the same species. This study uses a morphometric approach to investigate how cell dimensions, cell number, and their relation with genetically based fruit size differences can contribute to a characterization of tissue organization in the external fruit region, using the olive drupe as an example. We determined cell area, radial and tangential widths, and cell number in the epidermis and 20 subepidermal cell layers of mature fruits of four olive cultivars that range in fruit size. Variation of these measurements among cell layers and the implied cellular contributions to fruit expansion revealed two different subepidermal regions, but with constant widths and layer numbers for all cultivars: (1) the first four cell layers (1-4), which have similar behavior to the epidermis; and (2) the following five cell layers (5-9), which are more similar to the mesocarp. The results provide new insights about cell patterns in the external region of the olive fruit and suggest that layers 1-4 together with the epidermis may act as a multiseriate exocarp and layers 5-9 may act as an outer mesocarp.

Transient Silencing of CHALCONE SYNTHASE during Fruit Ripening Modifies Tomato Epidermal Cells and Cuticle Properties

“…These modifications during ripening are clearly affected by CHS silencing, since the epidermal cells from the pink sectors shared several traits common in the cells of mature green fruits: more rounded cells due to a lower tangential width and higher radial width and with thinner pegs and less cuticle invagination. A reduction in radial cell width and an increase in tangential width associated with growth also have been reported for other species, suggesting a physical stretching of the epidermis (Hammami and Rapoport, 2012). Considine and Brown (1981) showed that cell geometry is modified with the increase of internal fruit forces as a consequence of the orientation of mechanical stresses along the fruit surface.…”

Use of diffusion magnetic resonance imaging to correlate the developmental changes in grape berry tissue structure with water diffusion patterns

“…The radial anisotropic diffusion pattern observed in the olive pericarp was similar to the grape berries close to or past véraison, indicating that the cells of the mesocarp are likewise radially elongated. This result agrees with what is known of the olive mesocarp structure [ 42 ]. The mean T 2 value of the olive was comparable to those of the grape berry pericarp tissues, as was expected for fruits with similar cellular dimensions.…”

A detailed description of morphological and anatomical characters of olive (Olea europaea) fruits in relation to phenological growth stages

“…The cellular structure and organisation observed in the fruit cross sections in this work respond to previous histological descriptions made by several authors in olive (Hammami & Rapoport, ; Lavee, ; Rapoport et al, ). The epidermis of the olive fruit shows a structure similar to that of other drupes, with cells of small dimensions covered with a cuticle.…”

“…In the central fruit zone, the variation in the shape of the cells, from the epicarp to the endocarp, was similar to that observed in the equatorial transverse sections in this and other work of “Picual” variety (Hammami & Rapoport, ).…”