IDENTIFICATION OF SUCROSE-REGULATED GENES IN CULTURED RICE CELLS USING MESSENGER-RNA DIFFERENTIAL DISPLAY

In order to get more information about carbon metabolite regulation pa thways, cloning and sequence analysis of sucrose-regulated genes from rice-suspension-cultured cells were performed. We used a new method, m RNA differential display, to screen differentially expressed genes und er conditions of 3% and no sucrose in the cultured medium. Six candida te clones were identified and sequenced. Clones SI1 and SI2 were repre ssed by sucrose starvation, while clones SR1, SR2, SR3 and SR4 were in duced by sucrose starvation. Nucleotide sequence analysis showed that clone SR2 has 94.8% homology to the salT gene, and clones SI1 and SR3 show 88.3 and 96.9% identity, respectively, to partial cDNA sequences in the GenBank database. The results suggest that mRNA differential di splay provides an easy and quick way to clone genes involved in the ca rbon metabolite regulation pathway.