Abstract
Tomato plants harboring the ripening-inhibitor (rin) mutation yield fruits that fail to ripen. Additionally, rin plants display enlarged sepals and loss of inflorescence determinacy. Positional cloning of the rin locus revealed two tandem MADS-box genes (LeMADS-RIN and LeMADS-MC), whose expression patterns suggested roles in fruit ripening and sepal development, respectively. The rin mutation alters expression of both genes. Gene repression and mutant complementation demonstrate that LeMADS-RIN regulates ripening, whereas LeMADS-MC affects sepal development and inflorescence determinacy. LeMADS-RIN demonstrates an agriculturally important function of plant MADS-box genes and provides molecular insight into nonhormonal (developmental) regulation of ripening.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
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Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
MeSH terms
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Chromosome Mapping
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Chromosomes, Artificial, Yeast
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Cloning, Molecular
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DNA, Antisense
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DNA, Complementary
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Ethylenes / biosynthesis
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Ethylenes / pharmacology
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Fruit / physiology
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Gene Expression
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Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
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Genes, Plant*
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Genetic Complementation Test
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MADS Domain Proteins / genetics*
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MADS Domain Proteins / physiology
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Mutation
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Phylogeny
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Plant Proteins / genetics*
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Plant Proteins / physiology
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Plant Structures / genetics
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Plant Structures / physiology
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Plants, Genetically Modified
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Solanum lycopersicum / genetics*
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Solanum lycopersicum / physiology*
Substances
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DNA, Antisense
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DNA, Complementary
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Ethylenes
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MADS Domain Proteins
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Plant Proteins
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ethylene
Associated data
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GENBANK/AF448521
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GENBANK/AF448522
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GENBANK/AF448523