Levels of oxidative stress increase markedly in the later
stages of ripening and may facilitate many of the metabolic
changes associated with maturation of tomato fruit [20]. Comparison
of a cultivar with shorter shelf life to one with longer
shelf life showed reduced scavenging ability and increased
levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) [21]. Accordingly,
increase of antioxidant capacity or reduction of levels of
ROS with different antioxidants can extend shelf life [6, 22,
23]. Taken together, our data suggest that elevation of the
levels of antioxidants in fruit reduces the tissue-damaging activity of oxidative stress and thus is the most likely cause of
the delay in overripening observed in purple (Del/Ros1) and
orange (VIGS-SlDFR and Del/Ros1,aw2/2) tomatoes.