Expression of polygalacturonase and pectinesterase in normal and transgenic tomatoes

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Abstract Polygalacturonase and pectinesterase are two enzymes involved in the degradation of pectin. These enzymes are particularly active in the degradation of pectin which accompanies fruit repening. The molecular biology of these two enzymes has been studied extensively in both normal tomato fruit and in transgenic fruit manipulated to reduce enzyme expression. Both enzymes exist in multiple isoenzyme forms. In the case of polygalacturonase these isoforms appear to arise from the post translational modification of a single gene product. In contract pectinesterase isoform expression seems to be much more complicated and appears to involve the function of several non-homologous genes and also small multi-gene families. This paper provides an overview of the expression of these enzymes in normal and transgenic tomato fruit.