Résumé
Fruit development and ripening are unique biological processes of flowering plants in addition to being essential for both human and animal diets. The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) fruit is the number one source of edible vegetable oil worldwide and is one of the most promising oil crops for the future. Due to a constant annual increase in demand for vegetable oil for human consumption, there is increasing pressure for higher yields and/or cultivatable areas. While oil palm is the most efficient oil-bearing crop in the world, the development of improved elite genotypes is hampered by the long generation and selection cycles, the vast experimental spaces required and the lack of knowledge about oil palm genes with agronomic value that could be used in molecular breeding programs. In fact, despite the agronomic importance of this fruit, few studies have focused on the molecular and cellular basis of its biological characteristics. For example, two ripening related processes can have a negative effect on overall oil yield and increase harvest costs; (1) loss due to disintegration or wounding of fruit tissues that limit lipid storage accumulation and/or lead to lipid degradation and (2) loss due to non-synchronised ripening and subsequent shedding of the ripest fruit before harvest. With the aim of identifying genes with agronomic value that could be used in molecular breeding schemes to improve oil palm, we have initiated projects focused on the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying oil palm fruit ripening. Fruit development and ripening involve highly coordinated molecular and cellular changes that include cell division and expansion, the biosynthesis and accumulation of lipid reserves, tissue softening and changes in the abscission zone that lead to fruit shedding. We have identified genes of interest with possible functions during the developmental and ripening processes of the oil palm fruit. (Texte intégral)