Isolation and sequence analysis of genomic and cDNA of TOFL
The genomic fragment containing the TOFL gene was isolated from an L. esculentum cv. VFN8 genomic library. The library was screened with a PCR fragment of TOFL previously amplified with the use of two degenerated primers from the most conserved coding regions ofFLO and LFY genes.
The complete coding region of TOFL cDNA from both tomato wild type and fa genotypes was obtained by RT-PCR using a set of TOFL-specific primers (5′-CAA CAT GGA CCC AGA TGC TTT C-3′ and 5′-GAA GCA CAA TTA GAA ATG TGG C-3′). RT-PCR reactions were carried out with a commercial kit (Amersham–Pharmacia–Biotech) following the manufacturer’s instructions. The PCR products obtained were cloned in pGEM-T plasmid vectors, and sequenced with the use of fluorescent primers and a Pharmacia DNA sequencer.