Tomato fruit development through the perspective of transcription factors

Tomato is cultivated and consumed worldwide. It is of high economical value to farmers and therefore improvement of its agronomical traits such as flavor, aroma, texture, size, nutrition, postharvest water loss, and quantity are of keen interest to researchers. Transcription factors (TFs) can activate or repress expression of downstream target genes in a spatio-temporal fashion through interacting with specific cis-elements present in their promoters or enhancers. Various studies have shown that TFs such as MADS-box and MYB are master regulators of this process and regulate expression of various genes involved in ethylene biosynthesis (promote ripening), carotenoid production (color determination), and pericarp modulation (postharvest shelf-life). The transcriptional regulatory network is composed of a complex interconnected web of various proteins. In this web, TFs act in concert and in coordinated manner with various other TFs and proteins forming heterodimers or forming a higher degree protein complex to regulate this synchronized mechanism. In this chapter, we discuss the role and regulation of these TFs and how they affect fruit development and ripening in tomato.