In summary, 15 banana fruit MaERF genes were isolated and characterized. Gene expression profiles in banana fruit exposed to four different ripening treatments clearly revealed that MaERF genes are expressed differentially in peel and pulp tissues during fruit ripening. Yeast one-hybrid and transient expression assays showed that MaERFs bind MaACS1 and MaACO1 promoters and can activate or repress their activities during fruit ripening. MaERFs were shown to physically interact with MaACO1. Taken together, these results suggest that MaERFs may be involved in banana fruit ripening via transcriptional regulation of or interaction with ethylene biosynthesis genes. The study provides some new information in helping to understand the regulatory network of ERF TF in fruit ripening.