Molecular regulation of ripening and quality formation in banana fruit

Abstract

Bananas (Musa spp.) are a globally important fruit and cash crop. Their postharvest ripening process directly determines fruit eating quality, commercial value, and shelf life. As a typical climacteric fruit, banana ripening is governed by the ethylene signalling pathway and involves multi-layer regulation including transcriptional reprogramming, post-translational modifications, and epigenetic regulation. In recent years, with the completion of multiple banana genome maps and the integration of multi-omics technologies, the molecular mechanisms underlying fruit quality formation have been systematically uncovered. This review summarises research progress in the past decade, focusing on the genetic contributions of different subgenomes (A, B, S, T), the regulatory networks controlling key ripening processes, and multi-layer regulatory mechanisms. In addition, we discuss the molecular basis of banana fruit responses to high- and low-temperature stresses, as well as the effects of postharvest technologies on ripening progression and quality. This review deliberately focuses on multi-layer regulatory network architecture, aiming to elucidate how these regulatory layers are hierarchically organised and functionally integrated to coordinately govern banana fruit ripening and quality formation, providing a theoretical basis for postharvest biology research, quality improvement, and preservation technology development, and offering potential targets for molecular breeding and precision postharvest management.