ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF PISANG TONGKAT LANGIT (Musa troglodytarum L.) ACS1 AND ACO1 GENE EXPRESSION DURING FRUIT RIPENING PROCESS

Abstract

Pisang tongkat langit (Musa troglodytarum L.) is a banana cultivar originated from Eastern Indonesia. Previous studies showed that ACS1 and ACO1 are genes that play an important role in banana ethylene biosynthesis. However, characterization and analysis of M. troglodytarum ACS1 and ACO1 genes have not been reported. This study aims to isolate and characterize the ACS1 and ACO1 gene expression profile during fruit ripening process. Gene fragment isolation was performed using PCR based method. Results showed that the isolated genomic fragments of ACS1 was 400 bp and ACO1 was 500 bp. cDNA fragments of ACS1 was 200 bp and ACO1 was 300 bp. Analysis of genomic fragments using BLAST NCBI showed that ACS1 had a high homology with 1818 bp ACS1 gene of Musa acuminata AAA Group (GenBank: GQ396304.1), while ACO1 gene had the highest homology with 1593 bp ACO1 gene of M. acuminata AAA Group (GenBank: AJ223232.1). ACS1 genomic fragments of M. troglodytarum had one intron and two exons, while ACO1 had two introns and three exons. Homology analysis showed that gene fragment of ACS1 and ACO1 of M. troglodytarum had conserved region similar to M. acuminata.