important biological roles in tomato, such as the regulation of inflorescence
and fruit ripening13. TDR4 (FUL1)and SLMBP7 (FUL2) both
of which have high sequence similarity to Arabidopsis FRUITFULL
have been demonstrated to act in fruit ripening via forming MADSbox
transcription factor complexes with RIN14,15. The expression of
FUL1 is up-regulated during ripening15,16. TM6 transcripts mainly
accumulate in the carpel primordial and young fruits in tomato and
have been considered to be involved in fruit ripening17,18. RNAi suppression
of TAG1 in tomato leads to misshapen fruits and homeotic
conversion of stamens into petaloid organs18. The antisense suppression
of TAGL1 results in ripening inhibition and pericarp thickness
reduction19. Interestingly, all of those MADS-box proteins play as
positive regulators of ripening.