Overexpression of MaCCCH33-like2 in tomatoes accelerates fruit ripening and softening. The transcription of MaCCCH33-like2 in the fruit of WT and MaCCCH33-like2-overexpressing lines (OC1, OC2 and OC3) was detected by RT-PCR (A) and RT-qPCR (B). Experiments were conducted using pericarp tissues from MaCCCH33-like2-overexpressing and WT fruit at 30 dpas. The gene expression profiles were normalized using the reference gene SlUBI and further normalized against OC1 expression, which was set as 1. (C) The fruit ripening phenotype of WT and MaCCCH33-like2-overexpressing lines is shown. (D) The days from anthesis to the BR stage in WT and MaCCCH33-like2-overexpressing lines are presented. Changes in fruit firmness (E), color index (F) and ethylene release rate (G) during fruit ripening in WT and MaCCCH33-like2-overexpressing lines are illustrated. Asterisks (***) indicate significant differences at the P < 0.001 level. The expression profiles of SlEBF1 (H), SlABI5-like (I) and genes associated with cell wall and starch degradation (J) during fruit ripening in tomatoes are shown. Different letters represent significant differences (P < 0.05).