Morphological and gene expression characterization of , a floral chili pepper mutant caused by a nonsense mutation in .

Unlabelled: Chili peppers are important as vegetables and ornamental crops, because of the variety of fruit shapes and colors. Understanding of flower and fruit development in is limited compared with closely related Solanaceae crops such as tomato. This study reports a novel malformed fruit mutant named (), which was isolated from an ethyl methanesulfonate-induced mutant population of chili pepper.

Capsaicinoid biosynthesis in the pericarp of chili pepper fruits is associated with a placental septum-like transcriptome profile and tissue structure.

CAP biosynthesis in the pericarp of chili pepper fruits occurs with an ambiguous boundary in the placental septum and pericarp. Capsaicinoid (CAP) is a pungent ingredient of chili pepper fruits. Generally, CAP biosynthesis is limited to the placental septum of fruits, but it has been reported that its biosynthesis occurs even in the pericarp of some extremely pungent varieties, resulting in a substantial increase in total content.

Positional differences of intronic transposons in pAMT affect the pungency level in chili pepper through altered splicing efficiency.

Capsaicinoids are unique compounds that give chili pepper fruits their pungent taste. Capsaicinoid levels vary widely among pungent cultivars, which range from low pungency to extremely pungent. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this quantitative variation have not been elucidated.

Difference in capsaicinoid biosynthesis gene expression in the pericarp reveals elevation of capsaicinoid contents in chili peppers (Capsicum chinense).

This research reveals that the up-regulated expression of multiple capsaicinoid biosynthetic genes in pericarp tissue leads to the elevation of total capsaicinoid content in chili pepper fruit. Capsaicinoids are health-functional compounds that are produced uniquely in chili pepper fruits. A high capsaicinoid level is one of the major parameters determining the commercial quality and health-promoting properties of chili peppers.