Accumulation of Carbohydrate and Regulation of 14-3-3 Protein on Sucrose Phosphate Synthase (SPS) Activity in Two Tomato Species

To explore the differences of carbohydrate metabolism in two tomato species and discuss the possible regulation of 14-3-3 proteins on the sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) activity, we determined the contents of soluble sugar and starch through high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The activities of sugar-metabolizing enzymes were assayed in desalted extract, and the relative expression levels of related genes in sugar metabolism were determined though real-time RT-PCR. The results indicated that glucose and fructose were mainly accumulated during the maturation of the fruit because of the high acid invertase (AI) and neutral invertase (NI) in Micro-Tom (Solanum lycopersicum) fruit, while in Solanum chmielewskii fruit, SPS which went along with the change of sucrose content led to the rapid sucrose increase during the fruit ripening. TFT1 and TFT10, belonging to 14-3-3 protein in tomato, were likely to down-regulated SPS activity during young and intumescence period.