Detection of exon polymorphism in the. pineapple. terpene synthase through multiple sequence analysis

Pineapple (Ananas commis) is popular with its unique characteristics of juicy, strong aroma and high sweetness thus it is not only consumed as fresh fruit but also become favourite choice in downstream food industry. Terpene is the compound in pineapple which act responsible for its aroma and taste profile. In order to determine and characterize the DNA polymorphism of the terpene synthase gene identified among different varieties of pineapple. the gene had been amplified from five different varieties of pineapple to investigate its polymorphism. Total genomic DNA extraction was carried out by SDS method from leaf samples. The five samples were then amplified using PCR with three pairs of primers designed from three exons (out of nine) of the terpene syntahsc gene. The PCR products were sent for sequencing and the data was analysed using Mega 10 software to identify the polymorphism. For exon 2, MD2 have two amino acids variations from others and for Exon 3. seven variations of amino acids were found across the five pineapple varieties. For Exon 6, only the F153 cultivar that was used as the reference showed two variations in amino acid sequence as compared to another five varieties of pineapple. Most amino acid substitutions identified for each exon are from different group of amino acid. which may render the gene product to change its shape and function due to their different chemical properties.