Chloroplast to chromoplast transition in tomato fruit

Chloroplast to chromoplast transition in tomato fruit

There are several studies suggesting that tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) chromoplasts arise from chloroplasts, but are no reports showing the actual transition. Egea et al. use in situ real-time recording of pigment fluorescence to produce a video showing all chromoplasts arising from chloroplasts in mesocarp tissue. The accumulation of carotenoids is rather synchronous for all plastids in a cell, and more sudden that chlorophyll breakdown. Isolated intermediate plastids are shown to contain both carotenoids and chlorophylls.