Some characteristics of ethylene production in peach (Prunus persica L.) seeds.

The seed of peach fruits develop the capacity to produce ethylene with a lag phase of about 1 h after excision. The site of ethylene synthesis is in the seed coat and rates as high as 6,000 μl kg(-1) h(-1) were recorded. Ethylene production was reduced to less than 1% of the control by 10 μg/ml cycloheximide. Although the tissue had only a small methionine pool, supplying the seed with exogenous methionine did not influence ethylene production at any stage of seed development. Label from [U-(14)C]methionine was readily incorporated into ethylene.