The plant-specific DREB(Dehydration Responsive Element Binding)transcription factor(TF),belonging to the APETALA2/ethylene responsive-element binding factor(AP2/ERF)family,has been extensively reported to positively or negatively regulate multiple drought-and cold-responsive genes.However,little information is available regarding its roles in fruit ripening.In this study,an A-5 subgroup DREB TF,designated as MaDREB5,was isolated and characterized from banana fruit.MaDREB5 encodes a protein containing a typical AP2 DNA-binding domain and an EAR-motif(DLNxxP)in the C-terminus,which has been identified in many transcriptional repressors.Subcellular localization demonstrated that MaDREB5 was a nuclear protein.As expected,the transient expression assay in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves indicated that MaDREB5 was a transcriptional repressor,and the C-terminal EAR-motif,is important for its repression activity.Expression of MaDREB5 in fruit with three ripening characteristics,including natural,ethyleneinduced,and 1-methylcyclopropene(1-MCP)-delayed ripening,revealed that MaDREB5 was ethyleneinhibited,and its transcript levels obviously decreased during fruit ripening.More importantly,electrophoretic mobility shift(EMSA)and dual-luciferase reporter(DLR)assays demonstrated that MaDREB5 repressed six genes associated with cell wall degradation,such as MaEXP1/2/3,MaPG1,MaXTH1,and MaPME3,via directly binding to their promoters.These results suggest that the banana EAR-motif-containing DREB TF MaDREB5 may be associated with fruit ripening,in part by directly transcriptional repression of the expressions of cell wall degradation genes.Taken together,our findings provide some new information about the involvement of DREB TF in the regulation of fruit ripening.