An orchid (Aranda deborah) mature flower cDNA library was screened with an agamous cDNA probe from Arabidopsis. One positive clone for agamous gene was isolated, cloned and sequenced. This cDNA clone (om1) has a full length open reading frame of 750 bp corresponding to 250 amino acid residues. Comparison of om1 MADS box with that of its counterparts in tomato and Arabidopisis reveals significantly high homology (> 95%). Northern analysis indicated this gene is expressed in mature flowers and not in young developing inflorescences or young floral buds. In the mature flowers, it is only expressed in petals and weakly in sepals but not in the column (gynostemium).

A novel method employing polymerase chain reaction was developed for the disruption of yeast genes lacking convenient restriction enzyme sites. The method was found to be easy and effective. Using this method, a yeast YKE2 gene (a yeast homolog of murine k-region expressed genes) were successfully disrupted by replacement of HIS3 marker gene.