SPECIFIC EXPRESSION OF AN EXPANSIN GENE DURING ELONGATION OF COTTON FIBERS

A differential screening experiment resulted in the isolation of a ful l-length cDNA clone encoding an expansin from cotton fibres. Nucleotid e and derived amino acid sequence data showed that pGhEX1 encodes an e xpansin of 258 amino acids, with an N-terminal signal peptide. Norther n blot analysis showed that the corresponding transcript is abundant i n cotton fibre cells but absent in all other tissues tested, and that the gene is developmentally regulated during fibre elongation. (C) 199 8 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.