title: Molecular characterization and expression profiles of MaCOL1, a CONSTANS-like gene in banana fruit.
abstract: CONSTANS (CO) gene is a key transcription regulator that controls the long-day induction of flowering in Arabidopsis plant. However, CO gene involved in fruit ripening and stress responses is poorly understood. In the present study, a novel cDNA encoding CONSTANS-like gene, designated as MaCOL1 was isolated and characterized from banana fruit. The full length cDNA sequence was 1887bp with an open reading frame (ORF) of 1242bp, encoding 414 amino acids with a molecular weight of 46.20kDa and a theoretical isoelectric point of 5.40. Sequence alignment showed that MaCOL1 contained two B-box zinc finger motifs and a CCT domain. In addition, MaCOL1 showed transcriptional activity in yeast and was a nucleus-localized protein. Real-time PCR analysis showed that MaCOL1 was differentially expressed among various banana plant organs, with higher expression in flower. Expression of MaCOL1 in peel changed slightly, while accumulation of MaCOL1 transcripts in pulp obviously increased during natural or ethylene-induced fruit ripening, suggesting that MaCOL1 might be associated with the pulp ripening of banana fruit. Moreover, accumulation of MaCOL1 transcript was obviously enhanced by abiotic and biotic stresses, such as chilling and pathogen Colletotrichum musae infection. Taken together, our results suggest that MaCOL1 is a transcription activator and may be involved in fruit ripening and stress responses.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources/Guangdong Key Laboratory for Postharvest Science, College of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jian-Ye
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jun-Ning
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jian-Fei
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Kuang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.forename: Wang-Jin
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D020407:Internet; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D028521:Musa / Q000235:genetics*; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D015533:Transcriptional Activation
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C092776:CONSTANS protein, Arabidopsis; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors