identification and molecular characterization of the cdna encoding cucumis melo allergen, cuc m 3, a plant pathogenesis-related protein

background: melon (cucumis melo) allergy is one of the most common food allergies, characterized by oral allergy syndrome. to date, two allergen molecules, cuc m 1 and cuc m 2, have been fully characterized in melon pulp, but there are few reports about the molecular characteristics of cuc m 3. methods:the cuc m 3 cdna has been characterized by rapid amplification of cdna ends (race), which revealed a 456 base-pair (bp) fragment encoding a 151-amino acid polypeptide with a predicted molecular mass of 16.97 kda, and identified 79 and 178 bp untranslated sequences at the 5′ and 3´ ends, respectively. results: in silico analysis showed strong similarities between cuc m 3 and other plant pathogen-related protein 1s from cucumber, grape, bell pepper, and tomato. conclusion: here we report the identification and characterization of the cuc m 3 cdna, which will be utilized for further analyses of structural and allergenic features of this allergen.