Fig. 2

SlVPE3 is necessary for normal tomato fruit ripening. a Ripening phenotype of SlVPE3 RNAi lines. Fruit at 35, 38, 41, and 44 days post-anthesis (dpa) from wild-type (WT) and SlVPE3 RNAi lines (3-4, 3-12, and 3-15) are shown. b Expression of SlVPE3 and SlVPE5 in fruit of WT and SlVPE3 RNAi lines as determined by quantitative RT-PCR. c Expression of SlVPE3 and SlVPE5 in leaves of WT and SlVPE3 RNAi lines. In b and c, the gene transcript levels were normalized against the ACTIN gene, followed by normalization against WT expression. Values are shown as the means ± standard deviation (SD). Asterisks indicate P value <0.05 (t-test) when comparing values for each measurement between the SlVPE3 RNAi lines and WT plants. d Lycopene accumulation in WT and SlVPE3 RNAi fruit during ripening. e Ethylene generation in WT and SlVPE3 RNAi fruit at 38 and 41 dpa. In d and e, values are shown as the means ± SD. Asterisks indicate significant differences (P < 0.05; t-test) between WT and SlVPE3 RNAi fruit at an indicated ripening stage. f Expression of SlVPE3 in WT fruit (35 dpa) 6 or 12 h after untreated or treated with ethephon, as determined by quantitative RT-PCR. Gene transcript levels were normalized against expression of the ACTIN gene, followed by normalization against expression in the WT without ethephon treatment. Values are shown as the means ± SD. Asterisks indicate significant differences (P < 0.05; t-test) at an indicated time point after treatment