P. W. Oeller investigated molecular control of plant development, including the role of Ethylene in fruit ripening. A 1991 study with colleagues used Antisense RNA to reduce production of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase, an enzyme in Ethylene biosynthesis, in tomato plants.[ref]
Reversible inhibition of tomato fruit senescence by antisense RNA by P. W. Oeller and others. Science 254, pp. 437–439; primary byline and abstract
The modified tomatoes showed inhibited ripening, and supplying Ethylene externally reversed the inhibition. This paired intervention and rescue connected a molecular perturbation to a developmental process: reducing the signal delayed the process, while restoring the signal restored it. The result supplied causal evidence for Ethylene control in this experimental system, beyond a correlation between rising Ethylene and maturing fruit.[ref]
Reversible inhibition of tomato fruit senescence by antisense RNA by P. W. Oeller and others. Abstract; antisense inhibition and rescue by exogenous ethylene or propylene
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