title: A tobacco flower-specific gene encodes a polyphenol oxidase.
abstract: Identification of pistil-expressed genes is an important step in understanding pistil development and function in plant reproduction. A tobacco stigma/style cDNA library was differentially screened and several cDNA clones were isolated. One of these tobacco genes, designated tobP1, is characterized here. TobP1 encodes a protein highly homologous to plant polyphenol oxidases. Northern blot analysis of total RNA extracted from different organs and probed with tobP1 cDNA identified a single transcript that is exclusively present in flower organs (petals, stamens, and predominantly in pistils). The tobP1 gene is co-ordinately regulated during development in pistils and stamens, and is not induced in mature leaves even under stress conditions. TobP1 belongs to a multigene family, as reported for PPO in other plant species.
authors.affiliation: Depto. C. Morfológicas FORP/Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Goldman
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seurinck
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marins
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Goldman
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mariani
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D004156:Catechol Oxidase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D017343:Genes, Plant; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018547:Plant Stems; D010947:Plants, Toxic; D012098:Reproduction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D019657:Solanaceae / Q000201:enzymology; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D004156:Catechol Oxidase