What makes peppers blush? Bright red, tasty and healthy, that’s how we know and love bell peppers. In a first, the team headed by Professor Sacha Baginsky from the Chair for Plant Biochemistry at Ruhr University (RUB) has deciphered in detail, at the protein level, what makes them turn red as they ripen. At the heart of the project are the so-called plastids, typical plant cell organelles in which chlorophyll is broken down and carotenoids are produced as the fruit ripens. Visually, this transformation is clearly visible in the colour change from green to orange or red. The team documented the process in detail and globally at the protein level and published the results in “The Plant Journal” on 30 November 2020.