en ایمنی شناسی Immunology <p style="text-align: justify;"><em><strong>Background:</strong></em> Melon <em>(Cucumis melo)</em> 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.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><em>Methods:</em></strong>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&prime; and 3&acute; ends, respectively.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><em><strong>Results:</strong></em> In silico analysis showed strong similarities between Cuc m 3 and other plant pathogen-related protein 1s from cucumber, grape, bell pepper, and tomato.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><em>Conclusion:</em></strong> 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.</p> Allergen, Cuc m 3, Melon, Plant pathogenesis-related protein 1 82 87 http://rbmb.net/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-26&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mojtaba Sankian 10031947532846005991 10031947532846005991 No Immunology Research Center, Medical School, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Jafar Hajavi 10031947532846005992 10031947532846005992 No Immunology Research Center, Medical School, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Malihe Moghadam 10031947532846005993 10031947532846005993 No Immunology Research Center, Medical School, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Abdol-Reza Varasteh varasteha@mums.ac.ir 10031947532846005994 10031947532846005994 Yes Allergy Research Center, Medical School, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.