Bioinformatic and molecular analysis of hydroxymethylbutenyl diphosphate synthase (GCPE) gene expression during carotenoid accumulation in ripening tomato fruit.

Carotenoids are plastidic isoprenoid pigments of great biological and biotechnological interest. The precursors for carotenoid production are synthesized through the recently elucidated methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway. Here we have identified a tomato ( Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.

Functional analysis of the Arabidopsis thaliana GCPE protein involved in plastid isoprenoid biosynthesis.

Plastid isoprenoids are synthesized via the 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate pathway. A few years after its discovery, most of the Escherichia coli genes involved in the pathway have been identified, including gcpE. In this work, we have identified an Arabidopsis thaliana protein with homology to the product of this gene.