Aroma volatiles from apple (Malus domestica Borkh. var. Starkrimson) fruit at different stages of maturity were collected by solid adsorbent-Tenax-GC and determined by thermodesorption and GC-MS. Production of propyl acetate, butyl acetate, ethyl 2-methyl-butanoate and total ester volatiles and changes in concentration of the precursors of aroma biosynthsis--free amino acids and fatty acids and activities of lipoxygenases (LOX) and alcohol acetyltransferase (AAT) in apple fruits during ripening were studied. The results showed that propyl acetate and total esters were very low when the endogenous ethylene formation of the fruit was very low. At the stage of the increase in ethylene production, the rate of formation of propyl acetate and total esters increased. Butyl acetate appeared at the beginning of ethylene rise and increased thereafter. Ethyl 2-methyl-butanoate was produced at the beginning of climacteric stage and then increased sharply (Figs.1). These facts suggest that the aroma production is closely related to ethylene production. Among the 14 free amino acids detected in fruit, isoleucine which is considered to be the biosynthetic precursor of some branched chain esters showed a great increase during fruit ripening while the others decreased or remained stable (Table 1). The accumulation of isoleucine suggested that isoleucine supply in fruit may not limit the biosynthesis of esters with branched chain alkyl groups. Concentrations of free fatty acids such as palmitic, linolenic, oleic, linoleic, stearic acids increased before the increase of aroma production, decreased with the increase of aroma production and showed an increase at postclimacteric stages (Fig.2). LOX activity increased at climacteric stages and declined rapidly thereafter. AAT activity increased sharply at the early stage of fruit maturity when the aroma was very low and remained at a stable high level during fruit ripening (Fig.3) indicating that the AAT activity is not the limiting factor for aroma formation in apple fruit.