Cysteine protease gene expression and proteolytic activity during floral development and senescence in ethylene-insensitive gladiolus grandiflora

This paper reports the changes in protein content and protease activity in the petals of ethylene-insensitive Gladiolus flowers, during development and senescence. A partial cDNA for putative cysteine protease (GgCyP) was cloned from Gladiolus using degenerate PCR primers and the expression pattern of this gene was determined semi-quantitatively by RT-PCR. There was a dramatic up-regulation in the expression of GgCyP at the incipient senescent stage of flower development indicating that this gene may encode an important enzyme for the proteolytic process in Gladiolus.