CHARACTERIZATION OF A PEA GENE RESPONSIVE TO LOW-TEMPERATURE

A cold-induced gene, peacill.8, was isolated by differential screening of a subtracted cDNA library from cold-acclimated etiolated seedlings of pea (Pisum sativum L.). The expression of peacill.8 gene was inves tigated. The accumulation of the transcripts began within 6 h of cold treatment and peaked between 4 and 10 days of treatment. The expressio n of this gene was rapidly down-regulated after the acclimated seedlin gs were transferred to ambient temperature. This indicated the correla tion of the peacill.8 gene expression and cold treatment. Further stud ies showed that the expression was also highly stimulated by water str ess. The amino acid sequence deduced from the nucleotide sequence of p eacill.8 shared significant homology with several plant cold-induced g enes. In addition, the sequence analysis revealed the presence of two common features of many late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins, th e lysine-rich motif and the serine cluster. The availability of peacil l.8 will facilitate the structure-function studies of the cold-inducib le gene product.