The study of lignin, a major component of secondary cell wall, has been partly focused on its removal from the woody part in the kraft pulping industry. Cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD; EC 1.1.l95) catalyzes the synthesis of cinnamyl alcohols from corresponding cinnamaldehydes. A cDNA clone, MdCADl, encoding putative CAD from apples (Malus domestica Borkh. cv Fuji) was characterized in this study. The clone contains an open reading frame of 325 amino acid residues, which shows a greater than 80％ identity with Eucalyptus CADl. MdCADl mRNA was detectable in vegetative tissues and was strongly expressed in the fruit. The expression pattern of MdCADl mRNA in the fruit peel after light exposure was also examined. The mRNA was rapidly increased until 1 day after light exposure and remained stable thereafter, suggesting that MdCADl is light inducible. The inducibility of the MdCADl gene was examined using several environmental stresses. Mechanical wounding of leaves increased the MdCADl mRNA level and the induction was further increased by salicylic acid. Southern blot hybridization showed that there is either one or a few copies of CAD genes in apples. To our knowledge, it is believed that MdCADl is the first CAD clone expressed predominantly in fruit.