During fruit development and ripening, fruit softening,
primarily owing to cell wall degradation and reduction of
intercellular adhesion, is a prerequisite for a desirable eating quality of a fruit. Fruit cell walls are a complex network of
polysaccharides and proteins, wherein the primary cell wall
contains, on average, about 35% pectin, 25% cellulose, 20%
hemicellulose, and 10% structural protein (Li et al., 2010).