Efrati, A., Department of Plant Genetics and Breeding, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, P.O. Box 6, Bet Dagan, 50250, Israel
Eyal, Y., Department of Fruit Tree Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, P.O. Box 6, Bet Dagan, 50250, Israel
Paran, I., Department of Plant Genetics and Breeding, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, P.O. Box 6, Bet Dagan, 50250, Israel

The chlorophyll retainer (cl) mutation causes inhibition of chlorophyll degradation during pepper fruit ripening and is controlled by a single recessive gene. The retention of chlorophyll in mature red or yellow fruits produces brown- or green-colored ripe fruits, respectively. We mapped CL on chromosome 1 of pepper corresponding to chromosome 8 in tomato in which a homologous mutation, green flesh, was previously assigned. To test whether known structural genes from the chlorophyll catabolism pathway could correspond to CL, we mapped tomato expressed sequence tag clones corresponding to three loci of CHLOROPHYLLASE and one locus of PHEOPHORBIDE A OXYGENASE in the tomato introgression lines population. The three CHLOROPHYLLASE loci mapped to chromosomes 6, 9, and 12, while PHEOPHORBIDE A OXYGENASE mapped to chromosome 11, indicating that CL may correspond to an as yet unavailable gene from the chlorophyll catabolism pathway or to a regulator of the pathway. © 2005 NRC Canada.