Characterizing the grape transcriptome. Analysis of expressed sequence tags from multiple Vitis species and development of a compendium of gene expression during berry development.

We report the analysis and annotation of 146,075 expressed sequence tags from Vitis species. The majority of these sequences were derived from different cultivars of Vitis vinifera, comprising an estimated 25,746 unique contig and singleton sequences that survey transcription in various tissues and developmental stages and during biotic and abiotic stress. Putatively homologous proteins were identified for over 17,752 of the transcripts, with 1,962 transcripts further subdivided into one or more Gene Ontology categories.

Research note: Large gene family of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase in the crassulacean acid metabolism plant Kalanchoe pinnata (Crassulaceae) characterised by partial cDNA sequence analysis.

Clones coding for a 1100-bp cDNA sequence of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) of the constitutive crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plant Kalanchoe pinnata (Lam.) Pers., were isolated by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and characterised by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and DNA sequencing.

Transcript profiling of salinity stress responses by large-scale expressed sequence tag analysis in Mesembryanthemum crystallinum.

The common ice plant, Mesembryanthemum crystallinum, is a halophytic (salt-loving) member of the Aizoaceae, which switches from C3 photosynthesis to Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) when exposed to salinity or water-deficit stress. CAM is a metabolic adaptation of photosynthetic carbon fixation that improves water use efficiency by shifting net CO2 uptake to the night, thereby reducing transpirational water loss. To improve our understanding of the molecular genetic underpinnings and control mechanisms for Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) and other salinity stress response adaptations, a total of 9733 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from cDNAs derived from leaf tissues of well-watered and salinity-stressed (0.

Expression, purification, and initial characterization of a recombinant form of plant PEP-carboxylase kinase from CAM-induced Mesembryanthemum crystallinum with enhanced solubility in Escherichia coli.

Plant phosphoenolpyruvate-carboxylase kinase (PEPC-kinase [PpcK]) is the smallest Ser/Thr kinase identified to date, having a molecular mass of approximately 32,000. This novel, monomeric kinase is dedicated to the phosphorylation of plant PEPC, thereby regulating this target enzyme's activity and allosteric properties. Although several recombinant, non-fusion PpcK proteins have been produced recently in Escherichia coli, these are plagued by their high degree of insolubility.