Specific expression of an expansin gene during elongation of cotton fibres

Abstract

A differential screening experiment resulted in the isolation of a full-length cDNA clone encoding an expansin from cotton fibres. Nucleotide and derived amino acid sequence data showed that pGhEX1 encodes an expansin of 258 amino acids, with an N-terminal signal peptide. Northern blot analysis showed that the corresponding transcript is abundant in cotton fibre cells but absent in all other tissues tested, and that the gene is developmentally regulated during fibre elongation.