symplocarpus foetidus/cysteine

Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus renifolius) spadices contain abundant transcripts for cysteine protease (CP). From thermogenic spadices, we isolated SrCPA, a highly expressed CP gene that encoded a papain-type CP. SrCPA is structurally similar to other plant CPs, including the senescence-associated CPs

Thermogenesis in plants involves significant increases in their cyanide-resistant mitochondrial alternative oxidase (AOX) capacity. Because AOX is a non-proton-motive ubiquinol oxidase, the dramatic drop in free energy between ubiquinol and oxygen is dissipated as heat. In the thermogenic skunk

Floral thermogenesis has been described in several plant species. Because of the lack of comprehensive gene expression profiles in thermogenic plants, the molecular mechanisms by which floral thermogenesis is regulated remain to be established. We examined the gene expression landscape of skunk