Isolation and characterization of genes involved in the biosynthesis and signalling pathway for ethylene in strawberry

The role of ethylene in non-climacteric ripening is controversial. The objective of our experiments was to isolate genes involved in the ethylene biosynthesis and signal transduction pathways in the non-climacteric strawberry fruit. For this purpose, RT-PCR was used on RNA templates derived from different plant parts of strawberry fruit at four ripening stages (achenes and receptacles, separately), and ripe fruit diseased by Botrytis cinerea. Using degenerate oligonucleotides, two ethylene biosynthetic (ACC /1-aminocyclopropane carboxylic acid/synthase and oxidase) and two signalling (ETR1: ethylene receptor and CTR1: constitutive triple response) cDNAs have been obtained, cloned and sequenced. Expression studies of these genes in strawberry are in progress.