Rating of fluorescence staining of fracture surfaces of skin strips excised from the calyx region of ‘Nicoter’, ‘Gala’ and ‘Braeburn’ apples.

Fruit were harvested at the optimum harvest date and 6 weeks thereafter. The regions were: A = pith distal, B = pith proximal, C = cortex distal, D = cortex proximal; distal or proximal regions were on the level or below the calyx cavity, comprising the area above or below the inflexion point (ip) of the vascular bundle, respectively; the cortex included the ray parenchyma embedding the vascular bundles. The monoclonal antibodies (mAB) against pectins were: LM7 (anti-homogalacturonan) [13], LM8 (anti-xylogalacturonan) [14], LM19 (anti-homogalacturonan) [15], LM20 (anti-homogalacturonan) [15] and 2F4 for dimeric associations of Ca with homogalacturonan [16]. Those reacting with hemicelluloses were: LM11 (anti-xylan/arabinoxylan) [17], LM21 (anti-mannan) [18]; Marcus et al., 2010) and LM25 (anti-xyloglucan) [19]. The GFP fluorescence was rated on a three-point scale: 0 –no fluorescence, + some cell walls fluorescing, ++ all cell walls fluorescing; n = 3.