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Characterization of cultivar differences in β-1,3 glucanase gene expression, glucanase activity and fruit pulp softening rates during fruit ripening in three naturally occurring banana cultivars

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A Correction to this article was published on 11 January 2024

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Abstract

β-1,3 glucanase (E.C.3.2.1.39) is the key enzyme involved in the hydrolytic cleavage of 1,3 β-D glucosidic linkages in β-1,3 glucans. This work describes a comparative analysis of expression patterns of β-1,3 glucanase gene in relation to changes in fruit pulp softening rates in three banana cultivars, Rasthali (AAB), Kanthali (AB), and Monthan (ABB). Analysis of transcript and protein levels of β-1,3 glucanase gene during ripening revealed differential timing in expression of the gene which correlated well with the variation in enzymatic activity of glucanase and fruit pulp softening rates in the three cultivars. Exogenously applied ethylene strongly induced β-1,3 glucanase expression during the early ripening days in Rasthali, while the expression of the gene was marginally stimulated following ethylene treatment in preclimacteric Kanthali fruit. Conversely, in Monthan, β-1,3 glucanase expression was very low throughout the ripening stages, and ethylene treatment did not induce the expression of the gene in this cultivar. Analysis of glucanase activity using protein extracts from unripe and ripe fruit of Monthan with crude cell wall polysaccharide fractions (used as substrate) indicated that the natural substrate for glucanase remained almost unutilized in this cultivar due to low in vivo glucanase activity. Furthermore, the recombinant β-1,3 glucanase protein, overexpressed in E. coli, showed requirement for substrates with contiguous β-1,3 linkages for optimal activity. Overall, our results provide new information on the expression profile of β-1,3 glucanase gene in connection with the pattern of changes in fruit firmness at the physiological and molecular levels during ripening in three banana cultivars.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. Frederick Meins, FMIBR, Basel, Switzerland for providing the antibody of β-1,3 glucanase. We gratefully acknowledge the financial assistance from Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). We thank Mr. Jadav Ghosh, Department of Botany, Bose Institute, for the necessary technical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, Bose Institute, 93/1, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, Kolkata, 700009, West Bengal, India

    Swarup Roy Choudhury & Dibyendu N. Sengupta

  2. Department of Chemistry, Bose Institute, 93/1, A.P.C Road, Kolkata, 700009, India

    Sujit Roy

Authors
  1. Swarup Roy Choudhury
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  2. Sujit Roy
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  3. Dibyendu N. Sengupta
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Correspondence to Swarup Roy Choudhury.

Additional information

Communicated by P. Lakshmanan.

S. Roy Choudhury and S. Roy contributed equally to this work.

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299_2009_764_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig 1. The phylogenetic tree was constructed based on the deduced amino acid sequences of different fruit-specific β 1,3 glucanases. The tree was constructed using neighbor joining method with the best tree mode by Mega4.1 version. A value of 0.1 corresponds to a difference of 10% between the two sequences (TIFF 723 kb)

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Roy Choudhury, S., Roy, S. & Sengupta, D.N. Characterization of cultivar differences in β-1,3 glucanase gene expression, glucanase activity and fruit pulp softening rates during fruit ripening in three naturally occurring banana cultivars. Plant Cell Rep 28, 1641–1653 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-009-0764-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-009-0764-5

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