African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (1), pp. 1-8, January 2005   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2004 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Restriction mapping of Cucurbitae Pepo L. chloroplast DNA Pstl 9.8 kb fragment and detection of ORF 2280 transcripts

Silas D. Obukosia¹*, Charles D. Boyer², Christina M. Richards³

¹Department of Crop Science, University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 29053, Nairobi, Kenya.

²Department of Horticulture, 4017 Agriculture and Life Sciences Building Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-7304, USA.

³Department of Horticulture, Pennsylvania State University, 215, Tyson PA 16802, USA.

*Correspondence author. E-mail: citrustc@wananchi.com Fax 254-2-020-632121, Tel: 254-2-630340, 631340/44

Using tomato heterologous probe, the ORF 2280 was located on the PstI 9.8 kb fragment in the inverted repeat A (IRA) and on the PstI 12.1 kb fragment in the inverted repeat B (IRB) on the physical map of squash chloroplast DNA.  A fine map of the PstI 9.8 kb fragment was developed using SalI, BamHI and EcoRI restriction enzymes.Two transcripts of 1.4and 2.6 kbs of ORF 2280 of squash plastid DNA were detected in fruits but not in the leaves of Early Prolific cultivar using a heterologous PstI 1.2 kb tomato plastid DNA probe internal to ORF 2280.In Bicolor gourd fruits, 1.4 and 2.6 kb transcripts of ORF 2280 weredetected both in the fruits and in leaves.

Key words:  Cucurbitae pepo, restriction mapping, PstI 9.8 kb fragment, ORF 2280 transcripts.