Plant Physiol, January 2000, Vol. 122, pp. 67-74
Characterization of P69E and P69F, Two
Differentially Regulated Genes Encoding New Members of the
Subtilisin-Like Proteinase Family from Tomato Plants
Lucia
Jordá,
Vicente
Conejero, and
Pablo
Vera*
Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas,
Universidad Politécnica-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones
Científicas, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022-Valencia, Spain.
Subtilisin-like proteins represent an
ancient family of serine proteases that are extremely widespread in
living organisms. We report here the structure and genomic organization
of two new transcriptionally active genes encoding proteins that belong
to the P69 family of subtilisin-like proteases from tomato
(Lycopersicon esculentum) plants. The two new members,
P69E and P69F, are organized in a cluster and arranged in a tandem
form. mRNA expression analysis and studies of transgenic Arabidopsis
plants transformed with promoter-
-glucuronidase fusions for each of
these two genes revealed that they are differentially regulated, with
each showing a highly specific mRNA expression pattern.
P69E mRNA is expressed only in roots, while P69F mRNA is
expressed only in hydathodes. A comparison of all the P69 amino acid
sequences, gene structure, expression profiles, and clustered
organization suggests a working model for P69 gene family evolution.
*
Corresponding author; e-mail vera{at}ibmcp.upv.es; fax
34-96-3877859.
© 2000 American Society of Plant Physiologists
