Peppers as a source of genes and/or promoters of interest for other crops

Peppers have been used as a model for the study of carotenoid biosynthesis. Two Genes that encode major chromoplast proteins have been cloned⁶³ that encodea capsanthin/capsoburin synthase (ccs) involved in the synthesis of a red carotenoid pigment not found in tomato and a fibrillin (fib), a structural protein involved in carotenoid deposition in chromoplasts.⁶⁴ Both genes(ccs and fib) are strongly induced at the early stages of ripening in peppers. The two promoters of the genes, specially the fib promoter were exceptionally strong in expressing GUS activity in ripening tomato fruit starting at the late immature-green stage.⁶⁵ Interestingly, although ethylene is considered not to be involved in the ripening of the non-climacteric pepper fruit, it influenced GUS expression driven by both the ccs and fib promoters in the climacteric tomato fruit.