Characterization of differential ripening pattern in association with ethylene biosynthesis in the fruits of five naturally occurring banana cultivars and detection of a GCC-box-specific DNA-binding protein

MA-ACS1 and MA-ACO1 are the two major ripening genes in banana and play crucial role in the regulation of ethylene production during ripening. Here, we report a comparative ripening pattern in five different naturally occurring banana cultivars namely Cavendish (AAA), Rasthali (AAB), Kanthali (AB), Poovan (AAB) and Monthan (ABB), which have distinct genome composition. We found a distinct variation in the climacteric ethylene production and in-vivo ACC oxidase activity level during the ripening stages in the five cultivars. We identified the cDNAs for MA-ACS1 and MA-ACO1 from the five cultivars and studied the transcript accumulation patterns of the two genes, which correlated well with the differential timing in the expression of these two genes during ripening. The GCC-box is one of the ethylene-responsive elements (EREs) found in the promoters of many ethylene-inducible genes. We have identified a GCC-box motif (putative ERE) in the promoters of MA-ACS1 and MA-ACO1 in banana cultivars. DNA-protein interaction studies revealed the presence of a GCC-box-specific DNA-binding activity in the fruit nuclear extract and such DNA-binding activity was enhanced following ethylene treatment. South-Western blotting revealed a 25-kDa nuclear protein that binds specifically to GCC-box DNA in the climacteric banana fruit. Together, these results indicate the probable involvement of the GCC-box motif as the cis-acting ERE in the regulation of MA-ACS1 and MA-ACO1 during ripening in banana fruits via binding of specific ERE-binding protein.