Abstract: Two osmotic stress- and ABA-responsive members of the endochitinase (EC 3.2.1.14) gene family has been isolated and identified from leaves of drought-stressed Lycopersicon chilense plants. The 966-base-pair insert of pcht28 encodes an acidic chitinase precursor with an amino-terminal signal peptide. The mature protein is predicted to have 229 amino acid residues with a relative molecular weight of 24,943 and pI value of 6.2. The same number in amino acids, molecular and PI value are predicted for the protein encoded by pchtI, despite of a slight variation in the DNA and amino acid sequences. Sequence analysis revealed that pcht28 and pchtI have a high degree of homology with class II chitinases (EC 3.2.1.14) from tobacco. Northern blot analysis indicated that these genes have evolved a completely different pattern of expression from others reported thus far. They are highly induced by both osmotic stress and the plant hormone abscisic acid.