Cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) plays a key role in lignin biosynthesis.In this study,we report the molecular characteristics of CAD gene cloned from banana (Musa acuminata L.AAA group,cv.Cavendish) using a RACE-PCR-based strategy.MaCAD1 contained an open reading frame of 1 077 bp which encoded a polypeptide of 358 amino acids.Protein alignment showed that it contains the complete typical conserved alcohol dehydrogenase domains,which belongs to a typical CAD protein.Phylogenetic analysis showed that the deduced amino acid sequence of MaCAD1 also has high similarity to OsCAD6 (CAD39907) from rice.Tissue-specific studies showed that the expression of MaCAD1 was constitutively expressed in various tissues of banana seedling.In resistant and susceptible varieties of banana after inoculation Foc TR4,the expression of MaCAD1 was decreased.While in resistant varieties the time point of MaCAD1,compared to control,increased higher than that in susceptible varieties at time points,indicated that this gene played an important role in banana resistance.MaCAD1 could be a new marker gene in banana seedling under the infection of Foc TR4.