Fig. 5.

Caspase-3-like activity in protein extracts from the stigmatic arms of non-pollinated and pollinated kiwifruit flowers collected from 4 d before until 5 d after anthesis. (A) Caspase-3-like activity; (B) caspase-3-like activity in protein extracts from stigmatic arms at anthesis incubated without inhibitor (control) or in the presence of different inhibitors. Data represent the percentage with respect to the maximum activity (mean ± s.e.) of three independent experiments, each performed using three protein extractions per day and per treatment, with spectrophotometric measurements made in duplicate. Abbreviations: 3-CHO, Ac-DEVD-CHO (caspase-3 inhibitor); DMSO, dimethylsulfoxide; E-64, trans-epoxysuccinyl-l-leucylamido (4-guanidino) butane; EtOH, ethanol; Pep-A, pepstatin; PMSF, phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride.