The effect of low temperature on cell ultrastructure was investigated in chilling-sensitive and chilling-resistant tomato fruit ( Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) Damage to the chilling-sensitive cultivar included microvesiculation of the endoplasmic reticulum and loss of ribosomes, chloroplast, and mitochondrial swelling; loss of starch granules; disorganization of the internal lamellae of chloroplasts; grana unstacking, as well as plastoglobuli and tonoplast degradation. Only a slight disorganization of the internal chloroplast lamellae was evident in the resistant species after 7 days at 5C. The primary site of damage appeared to be the chloroplast in both chilling-sensitive and -resistant species. The ultrastructural damage observed could be explained in terms of membrane disruption.
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Marangoni et al. (1989) studied this question.