throughout fruit ripening. Confocal microscopy, together with Radiolabelling of epicuticular waxes and cutin of isolated experimental estimation of the mobility (diffusion coefficient, tomato fruit cuticles were determined after fruit surface appli-D) and affinity (partition coefficient, K) of the flavonoids cation of 3 H-phenylalanine precursor. During fruit ripening, naringenin and chalconaringenin for the different cuticular the precursor is incorporated in different phenolic components: components, indicate that these compounds are extruded to the flavanone naringenin was found to be the major compound the outer surface of tomato fruits, forming molecular clusters. in the epicuticular waxes, while the amount of the labelled flavonoid in the cutin matrix was progressively increase
