title: Pectate lyases, cell wall degradation and fruit softening.
abstract: This is a brief review of what is known about the role of pectate lyases in plants. The mode of action and three-dimensional structure of microbial pectate lyases is discussed first and then the limited information on the plant proteins is presented. Pectate lyase-like genes have been isolated from a wide range of plant tissues including germinating seeds, pollen, cell cultures, and ripening fruits. The abundance of ESTs for these genes in tomato and the presence of pectate lyase-like transcripts in many other fruits may indicate that these enzymes have a more important role in ripening than previously suspected.
mesh_terms: D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism*; D005638:Fruit / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D010368:Pectins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D011133:Polysaccharide-Lyases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D011487:Protein Conformation
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins; D010368:Pectins; D011133:Polysaccharide-Lyases; C023911:pectate lyase