THE GENE FAMILY ENCODING THE RIBULOSE-(1,5)-BISPHOSPHATE CARBOXYLASE OXYGENASE (RUBISCO) SMALL-SUBUNIT OF POTATO/

We determined the nucleotide sequences of five members of the rbcS gen e family encoding the small subunit (SSU) of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) of potato. The genomic organization, structure and expression of the genes is compared to the features of t he rbcS genes in tomato. Within the two species, Lycopersicon esculent um and Solanum tuberosum, both members of the Solanaceae, the rbcS gen es share more interspecific sequence identity, especially in the 5'- a nd 3'-untranslated regions and the intron sequences, than within one s pecies. However, the expression data of orthologous rbcS genes contain ing highly identical regulatory cis-acting elements were found to be d ifferent, suggesting that the simple finding of these motifs does not automatically imply similar transcriptional and/or post-transcriptiona l gene regulation.