STRUCTURE AND ANALYSIS OF PHOSPHOLIPASE-D GENE FROM RICINUS-COMMUNIS L

Phospholipase D (PLD; EC 3.1.4.4) has been proposed to play a pivotal role in various cellular processes, but molecular understanding of thi s enzyme is rather limited. This report describes the nucleotide seque nce, structure, and genomic organization of a PLD gene from castor bea n (Ricinus communis L. cv. Hale). The PLD gene was isolated from a cas tor bean genomic library using the PLD cDNA as a hybridization probe. Sequence comparison with the PLD cDNA revealed that the PLD gene consi sted of four exons and three introns, one of which interrupts the 5'-u ntranslated region. Southern blot analysis indicated that the cloned P LD gene was present as a single-copy gene, and yet there were other PL D or PLD-related sequences in the castor bean genome.