It has been more than a centaury since the identification of ethylene as a gaseous plant hormone,and the effects of ethylene on plants have enabled broad applications in agriculture. Efforts had been made to understand ethylene signal transduction in plants, but it had not been successful until the identification and cloning of the first plant hormone receptor gene, ETR1,in Arabidopsis a decade ago. Comprehensive genetic studies allow the dissecting of the signaling pathway to reveal the components involved, which makes the studies of ethylene signal transduction become one the most-understood signal transduction pathways in plants. The identification of the signaling components and the genetic model of ethylene signal transduction pathway are described in this review.%植物激素乙烯早在一百多年前就已经被确认,相关的研究使得乙烯广泛地被应用于农业上.一直到十年前第一个植物激素乙烯受体拟南芥ETR1基因被发现之后,人们对于乙烯信号传递的研究并才真正开始有所突破.以遗传学为基础对乙烯反应突变体所做的分析,使得乙烯信号传递已经成为目前植物信号传递领域中被研究得最清楚的信号传递途径之一.该文着重于回顾乙烯信号传递途径上各个元件的发现和确认,以及如何利用遗传学的方法将现有的突变体相关基因构建出目前广为接受的信号传递的遗传模式.最后,该文就目前所知的乙烯信号传递理论及相关研究,做了总结和深入的讨论.
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