Cell wall preparations from green pericarp of normal and mutant Neverripe (Nr) and ripening inhibitor (rin) tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) fruit were all equally degraded in vitro by a cell wall-bound protein extract from ripe normal tomatoes.Similar cell wall-bound protein extracts from ripe Nr fruit were not as effective and those from ripe rin fruit gave no cell wall degradation at all in vitro. This was correlated with the absence of polygalacturonase in rin and low activity of Nr extracts.Purified polygalacturonase was capable of in vitro cell wall degradation and it seems that this enzyme can account for the cell wall degradation observed with the total cell wall-bound protein extracts from ripe fruit.