The tomato Dwarf gene isolated by heterologous transposon tagging encodes the first member of a new cytochrome P450 family.

To transposon tag the tomato Dwarf (D) gene, a tomato line that carries a T-DNA containing a maize Activator (Ac) transposable element closely linked to D was pollinated with a stock homozygous for the d mutation. Hybrid seedlings were screened for dwarf progeny, and three independent dwarf lines were obtained. Two of these lines showed inheritance of a recessive phenotype similar to that conferred by the extreme dwarf (dx) allele. Variegation for the dwarf phenotype in one of these lines suggested that D had been tagged by Ac. Genomic DNA adjacent to Ac in these two lines was isolated by use of the inverse polymerase chain reaction, and the two insertions mapped approximately 2 kb apart. Partial complementation of d was observed when the corresponding wild-type sequence was used in transformation experiments. A cDNA clone of D was sequenced, and the predicted amino acid sequence has homology to cytochrome P450 enzymes.