Abstract: To investigate the role played by SlERFD3 in tomato fruit ripening, this paper first analyzed the changes in SlERFD3 expression at different periods of tomato fruit ripening. SlERFD3-silenced tomato plants were constructed using virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS), and it was found that SlERFD3 silencing accelerated the tomato ripening process. Thereafter, the chlorophyll and carotenoid mass ratios of SlERFD3-silenced tomato fruits were examined, and it was found that SlERFD3 silencing reduced the chlorophyll mass ratios and increased the carotenoid mass ratios of tomatoes compared to the control group. Further detection of chlorophyll degradation genes NYC1 and PAO and carotenoid synthesis gene PSY1 in SlERFD3-silenced tomatoes using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique revealed that the expressions of genes NYC1, PAO and PSY1 were higher than those in the control group, indicating that SlERFD3 acts as a negative regulator in the ripening process of tomato.
Keywords: SlERFD3 gene; tomato; ripening; pigment