The time course of ethylene biosynthesis and perception was investigated in ripening peach fruit (Prunus persica) following treatments with the polyamines putrescine (Pu) and spermidine (Sd), and with aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG).

Fruit treatments were performed in planta. Ethylene production was measured by gas chromatography, and polyamine content by high‐performance liquid chromatography; expression analyses were performed by Northern blot or real‐time polymerase chain reaction.

Differential increases in the endogenous polyamine pool in the epicarp and mesocarp were induced by treatments; in both cases, ethylene production, fruit softening and abscission were greatly inhibited. The rise in 1‐aminocyclopropane‐1‐carboxylate oxidase (PpACO1) mRNA was counteracted and delayed in polyamine‐treated fruit, whereas transcript abundance of ethylene receptors PpETR1 (ethylene receptor 1) and PpERS1 (ethylene sensor 1) was enhanced at harvest. Transcript abundance of arginine decarboxylase (ADC) and S‐adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (SAMDC) was transiently reduced in both the epicarp and mesocarp. AVG, here taken as a positive control, exerted highly comparable effects to those of Pu and Sd.

Thus, in peach fruit, increasing the endogenous polyamine pool in the epicarp or in the mesocarp strongly interfered, both at a biochemical and at a biomolecular level, with the temporal evolution of the ripening syndrome.