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Sequence and In Silico Characterization of the Tomato Polygalacturonase (PG) Promoter and Terminator Regions

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Abstract

Progression towards fruit ripening is a highly coordinated process involving both developmental cues as well as differential gene expression. Increased activity of polygalacturonases (PGs) during the fruit ripening process has been associated with cell wall degradation of pectins. The 5′ fruit-ripening promoter and 3′ terminator regions from tomato PG were sequenced and analyzed using various in silico-based prediction tools to identify putative cis-acting motifs and regulatory elements. BLASTn analysis of the PG promoter revealed sequence homology (between 80–86% sequence identity) to various regions of the 1-aminocylopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) synthase-encoding gene and 100% sequence identity to a chromoplast-encoding gene in bell pepper. Analysis of the terminator region identified two domains that are 97% and 95% homologous to the Drosophila transposable element copia. Two other domains show 93% and 92% sequence similarity to the MADS-box family of transcription factors.

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by NIH Grant No. P20 RR16481 from the BRIN Program of the National Center for Research Resources. The PG promoter and terminator were a gift from Dr. Don Grierson (University of Nottingham, England).

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Correspondence to Schuyler S. Korban.

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11105_2008_81_MOESM1_ESM.doc

Supplementary Material 1 Transcription factor binding motifs found in PG promoter and terminator regions analyzed by PlantCARE (DOC 93.5 KB).

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Lau, J.M., Cooper, N.G., Robinson, D.L. et al. Sequence and In Silico Characterization of the Tomato Polygalacturonase (PG) Promoter and Terminator Regions. Plant Mol Biol Rep 27, 250–256 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-008-0081-0

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