559 Isolation of an ETR1 Ethylene Receptor Homologue from Peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch]

Abstract

During the past several years, we have been interested in genes and gene-products involved in various aspects of ripening and maturation in peach (Prunus persica) fruit. The ethylene biosynthetic and signal transduction pathways are of particular interest due to the role of this hormone in such processes. Recently, we isolated a cDNA encoding a homologue of the ethylene receptor ETR1 from a near fully ripe (20–60N) peach fruit cDNA library. This cDNA clone, PpETR1, is nearly 2300 bp in length, with a 5' untranslated region of 268 bp, a 3' untranslated region of 150 bp, and an ORF of 1881 bp, encoding a protein of 70 kDa. The cDNA is most closely related to an ETR1 homologue from apple (Malus domestica), i.e., 95% identity at the amino acid level, but shows considerable similarity to Arabidopsis thaliana ETR1, as well. A comparison of the similarity among cloned ETR1 genes from a range of plant species will be presented.