A tobacco gene family for flower cell wall proteins with a proline-rich domain and a cysteine-rich domain.

Flowering is known to be associated with the induction of many cell wall proteins. We report here five members of a tobacco gene family (CELP, Cys-rich extensin-like protein) whose mRNAs are found predominantly in flowers and encode extensin-like Pro-rich proteins. CELP mRNAs accumulate most abundantly in vascular and epidermal tissues of floral organs. In the pistil, CELP mRNAs also accumulate in a thin layer of cells between the transmitting tissue and the cortex of the style and in a surface layer of cells of the placenta in the ovary. This unique accumulation pattern of CELP mRNAs in the pistil suggests a possible role in pollination and fertilization processes. CELP genes encode a class of plant extracellular matrix proteins that have several distinct structural features: a Pro-rich extensin-like domain with Xaa-Pro3-7 motifs and Xaa-Pro doublets, a Cys-rich region, and a highly charged C terminus. The extensin-like domains in these proteins differ significantly in their length and these differences appear to be results of both long and short deletions within the coding regions of their genes. Furthermore, the number of charged amino acid residues in the C-terminal region varies among the CELPs. These structural differences may contribute to functional versatility in the CELPs. On the other hand, the Cys-rich domain is highly conserved among CELPs and the positions of the Cys residues are conserved, suggesting that this region may have a common functional role. The presence of a Pro-rich domain and a Cys-rich domain in these CELPs is reminiscent of a class of hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins, solanaceous lectins, that are believed to be important in cell-cell recognition. The structure of these CELPs indicates that they may be multifunctional and that their genes may have arisen from recombinational events.