cDNA sequences corresponding to two self-incompatibility alleles (S-alleles) of the apple cv 'Golden Delicious' have previously been described, and now we report the identification of three additional S-allele cDNAs of apple, one of which was isolated from a pistil cDNA library of cv 'Idared' and two of which were obtained by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) on pistil RNA of cv 'Queen's Cox'. A comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences of these five S-allele cDNAs revealed an average homology of 69%. Based on the nucleotide sequences of these S-allele cDNAs, we developed a molecular technique for the diagnostic identification of the five different S-alleles in apple cultivars. The method used consists of allele-specific PCR amplification of genomic DNA followed by digestion of the amplification product with an allele-specific restriction endonuclease. Analysis of a number of apple cultivars with known S-phenotype consistently showed coincidence of phenotypic and direct molecular data of the S-allele constitution of the cultivars. It is concluded that the S-allele identification approach reported here provides a rapid and useful method to determine the S-genotype of apple cultivars.
Complementary DNA clones representing two alleles of the self-incompatibility (S) locus of apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.) have been isolated and characterised. One of the alleles corresponds to a 29 kDa ribonuclease (S-RNase) that was purified from pistil tissue. On northern blots, both cDNAs hybridized to a transcript that was only present in pistils and not in the other plant tissues analysed. Corresponding genomic sequences, amplified by PCR, were found to contain a single intron of 138 bp and 1100 bp respectively. Comparison of both sequences shows that the cDNAs encode mature proteins containing 65% of identical residues. Eight invariable cysteine residues, conserved regions around two histidines thought to play a role in RNA catalysis, and a number of other distinct residues are conserved between the apple S-RNases and similar proteins in the family Solanaceae. As this is the first report of sequences of S-alleles from a species belonging to a family that is not related with the Solanaceae, the structural features of S-RNases deduced from a comparison of their sequences are discussed.
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