Research news: New Idea For How Anti-aging Products Delay Ripening Of Fruit And Wilting Of Flowers

The News:
New Idea For How Anti-aging Products Delay Ripening Of Fruit And Wilting Of Flowers
ScienceDaily (May 5, 2008) — When plants encounter ethylene, a gas they also produce naturally as a hormone, the result is softening and ripening in the case of fruit, and wilting and fading in the case of flowers -- all of which ethylene promotes.
To delay these effects, growers spray plants with products available in the market today, such as EthylBlocTM for flowers and SmartFreshSM for fruits and vegetables, that contain a compound that blocks ethylene's action on plants.
But how this compound, 1-methylcyclopropane or 1-MCP, works at the molecular level remains uncertain despite several chemical pathways chemists have proposed in the scientific literature.
Now, in a research paper published in the April issue of Chemistry & Biology, a team led by Michael Pirrung, a professor of chemistry and the holder of the University of California Presidential Chair in Chemistry at UC Riverside, offers a novel pathway for how "anti-aging" products like EthylBloc and SmartFresh block ethylene in plants, delaying the plants' demise and allowing people to enjoy their beauty and products for longer than nature allows. Read on...

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Chemistry & Biology.