MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION AND STRUCTURAL-ANALYSIS OF ONE ALCOHOL-DEHYDROGENASE GENE (GV-ADH1) EXPRESSED DURING RIPENING OF GRAPEVINE (VITIS-VINIFERA L) BERRY

One grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) A(ih gene, related to grapevine ripe ning and referred to here as GV-Adh 1, has been completely sequenced. We report in this paper the cloning strategy and the structural charac teristics of this gene. Comparative analyses of the proximal region of GV-Adh1 promoter with other promoters from Adh genes are presented. G V-Adh1 contains a 1140 nucleotide open reading frame encoding for a 38 0 amino acid polypeptide with a predicted molecular mass of about 41 k Da and a predicted isoelectric point of 6.9. Northern blot analysis de tected Adh transcripts principally in ripening fruits, whereas constit utive or no expression was found in young expanding leaves, tendrils a nd roots. A large increase in Adh expression corresponds to the incept ion of berry ripening. Blot hybridization experiments show that in gra pevine, Adh is coded by a small multigene family. Phylogenetic analysi s is presented. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.