Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Phosphorus (P) is essential for plant growth and development, and the vacuole is an important organelle for phosphate storage. However, the tonoplast phosphate transporter in fleshy fruits remains unknown. In this study, based on the strawberry (<jats:italic>Fragaria</jats:italic> × <jats:italic>ananassa</jats:italic>) fruit transcriptome data, a tonoplast‐localized vacuolar phosphate transporter with SPX and major facilitator superfamily domains, FaVPT1, was identified. <jats:italic>FaVPT1</jats:italic> expression was highest in the fruits and could be induced by sucrose. Using transient transgenic systems in strawberry fruit, the downregulation and upregulation of <jats:italic>FaVPT1</jats:italic> inhibited and promoted ripening, respectively, and affected phosphate contents, fruit firmness, sugar and anthocyanin contents, and ripening‐related gene transcription. FaVPT1 could rescue Pi absorption in both yeast and the Arabidopsis <jats:italic>atvpt1</jats:italic> mutant, confirming the similar function of FaVPT1 and AtVPT1, a previously identified tonoplast phosphate transporter in Arabidopsis. The <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case"><jats:italic>Escherichia coli</jats:italic></jats:styled-content>–expressed SPX domain of FaVPT1 could strongly bind to InsP<jats:sub>6</jats:sub> with a <jats:italic>K</jats:italic><jats:sub>d</jats:sub> of 3.5 μM. The results demonstrate that FaVPT1 is a tonoplast phosphate transporter and regulates strawberry fruit ripening and quality, to a large extent, via sucrose.</jats:p>