Novel Regulation of Fruit Ripening: an InsPEARation for Sustainable Agriculture
Every year, 1.3 billion tons of produce are wasted. A large part of this waste can be attributed to losses incurred between the farm and the table. Unpredictable ripening is one of the main causes of postharvest losses. I study a fruit that is notorious for unpredictable ripening, the pear. In my lab, I have been studying the physiological, biochemical, and gene expression-related effects of a novel ripening toolset on pear fruit. This toolset consists of a commercially-used ripening inhibitor in conjunction with a proprietary compound that serves to re-activate ripening. We hope to expand the use of our ripening technology to other crops in the future, as it will allow for better control of when ripening occurs, extend shelf-life of fruit as needed, and ultimately reduce the amount of fruit that goes to waste as a result of unpredictable ripening.
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Horticulture
Seanna Hewitt is a Ph.D. student in the Molecular Plant Sciences and Horticulture departments. She received bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Hispanic Studies at Pacific Lutheran University. She became interested in agriculture biotechnology as a result of undergraduate research in chloroplast genomics and an agriculture sustainability internship in Oaxaca, Mexico. Now in the Dhingra lab, she studies the biochemistry, physiology, and genomics of fruit ripening, looking at both fundamental and applied aspects of this complex process. The ultimate goal of her research is to reduce food waste associated with unpredictable ripening of fruit.