This study was aimed to isolate ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase small subunit (RbcS) from tea plant [Camellia sinensis ( L.) O. Kuntze]. In the study of transcriptional profiling of gene expression from tea flower bud development stage by cDNA-AFLP (cDNA amplified fragment length polymorphism), we have isolated some transcript- derived fragments (TDFs) occurring in both the young and mature flower bud. One of them showed a high degree of similarity to RbcS. Based on the fragment, the full length of RbcS with 769-bp (EF011075) cDNA was obtained via rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). It contained an open reading frame of 176 amino acids consisting of a chloroplast transit peptide with 52 amino acids and a mature protein of 124 amino acids. The amino acids sequence presented a high identity to those of other plant RbcS genes. It also contains three conserved domains and a protein kinase C phosphorylation site, one tyrosine kinase phosphorylation site and two N-myristoylation sites. Analysis by RT-PCR showed that the expression of RbcS in tea from high to low was leaf, young stem, young flower bud and mature flower bud, respectively. The isolation of the tea Rubisco small subunit gene establishes a good foundation for further study on the photosynthesis of tea plant.
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