Studies on transcriptional regulation for ethylene biosynthesis genes in fruit ripening

西红柿和甜瓜属于更年期水果，它们的成熟受乙烯调控。突变甜瓜品种“蜜露”在成熟阶段不能合成乙烯，因而贮藏寿命较长。在“蜜露”突变的基础上，我试图鉴定乙烯合成基因的转录调控因子，阐明乙烯信号传导和转录的机制。然后克隆2个型基因作为候选基因。迄今为止，基因沉默和表达操纵的初步实验表明，它们及其同源物可能会抑制果实成熟。

Tomatoes and melons are classified as climacteric fruits, whose ripening was regulated by ethylene. A mutant melon cultivar 'Honey dew' cannot synthesize ethylene at ripening stage and then be stored with a long storage life. Based on characterization of the mutation of 'Honey dew', I tried to identify the transcriptional regulator for ethylene synthesize genes and elucidate the mechanism for ethylene signaling and transcription. Then, 2 type genes were cloned as candidate genes. To date, the preliminary experiments, gene silencing and expression manipulation, suggested a possibility that that they and their homologues might repress fruits ripening.