Isolation and characterization of CaMF3, an anther-specific gene in Capsicum annuum L.

previous work on gene expression analysis based on rna sequencing identified a variety of differentially expressed cdna fragments in the genic male sterile-fertile line 114ab of capsicum annuum l. in this work, we examined the accumulation of one of the transcript-derived fragments (tdfs), camf3 (male fertile 3), in the flower buds of a fertile line. the full genomic dna sequence of camf3 was 1,951 bp long and contained 6 exons and 5 introns, with the complete sequence encoding a putative 25.89 kda protein of 234 amino acids. the predicted protein of camf3 shared sequence similarity with members of the isoamyl acetate-hydrolyzing esterase (iah1) protein family. camf3 expression was detected only in flower buds at stages 7 and 8 and in open flowers of a male fertile line; no expression was observed in any organs of a male sterile line. fine expression analysis revealed that camf3 was expressed specifically in anthers of the fertile line. these results suggest that camf3 is an anther-specific gene that may be essential for anther or pollen development in c. annuum.