Isolation and Expression of Cold-regulated cDNA from Chinese Cabbage (Brassica pekinensis)

Abstract

It has been established that changes in gene expression occur during cold acclimation in a wide range of plants. Here we present a novel cDNA encoding a protein with a calculated molecular mass of 25 kDa, designated cor25, from Brassica pekinensis cv. Zaoshu 5 (Chinese cabbage) that was similar with a cold-regulated Arabidopsis thaliana L. gene, cor47. Protein sequence alignment showed that COR25 had 53.5% of identity with COR47 and 59.6% of identity with ERD10, an Arabidopsis thaliana L. early-responsive gene to dehydration stress. Northern blot analysis revealed that the cor25 expression was cold inducible. Moreover, the transcripts of the cor25 accumulated in plants in response to exogenous application of ABA and water stress. The possible functions of the cold-regulated gene and the mechanism for plants to cope with low temperature are discussed.

Keywords::

• ABA
• Brassica pekinensis
• cor25
• Water stress

Database Accession No::

• AY178440

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Changfa Lin for his useful discussion of this paper. This research was funded by China National Transgenic Plant Research and Commercialization Project Fund, China National High-Tech “863” Program, China Ministry of Education and UK/CHINA Science and Technology Collaboration Fund.