= Fruit dehiscence
<Fruit dehiscence> is the normal opening of a mature <fruit> that releases enclosed <seeds>. It involves a reproducible opening region, the <dehiscence zone>, and differs from accidental tearing of a damaged <pericarp>. Opening of the surrounding <fruit> also differs from <germination> of a <seed>.
In <Arabidopsis thaliana>, <SHATTERPROOF1> and <SHATTERPROOF2> experiments tied the opening process to formation of specialized <cells> and adjacent <lignin> deposition. Disrupting both <genes> produced a defect that individual disruptions did not reveal.<SHATTERPROOF MADS-box genes control seed dispersal in Arabidopsis by Sarah J. Liljegren and others>[Abstract; dehiscence-zone differentiation and single/double-mutant comparison]{ref}
This makes a useful experiment in developmental mechanics: compare where a mature <fruit> opens, the anatomy of its opening region and the <genotype> controlling that anatomy. Finding <seeds> inside an unopened <fruit> does not alone show a failure of <seed> development. Separating formation, enclosure and release helps explain why controlling <fruit dehiscence> matters for harvesting crops without premature <seed dispersal>.
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