time point taken during the analysis. The level reached its lowest at
45 dpa and remained at a relatively low level throughout the fruit
ripening period.
2.3. Cell wall analysis of developing tomato fruit
The composition of the cell wall during the development of the
fruit was assessed. To do this acetone insoluble solid (AIS) was
prepared from tomato fruit pericarp and fractionated to give a
profile of the cell wall composition. The composition (mg/g) of the
pectin, hemicellulose and cellulose rich fractions at 15 dpa, 35 dpa
and breaker stages of development can be seen in Fig. 2. After
correction for the starch component of the cellulose rich fraction,
the total mass balance recovered during the fractionation was between
830 and 890 mg/g of the total AIS, the breakdown of which
can be seen in Table 1. For wild type (ACþþ) fruit at 15 dpa the
hemicellulose rich fraction represented the largest component of
the cell wall, accounting for around 45% of the recovered cell wall
mass. This compared to 21% pectin and 33% cellulose rich fraction.