Type 2 rice metallothionein-like gene has two introns

A type 2 rice metallothionein-like gene was isolated from root by PCR and s equenced. The PCR fragment was designated as pcr1460, which overlaps with O sMT-2, a cDNA sequence previously characterized, with the presence of two a dditional segments, 583 and 613 bp in length. These segments are recognized as introns which divide the coding sequence into three exons, 65, 78 and 1 06 base pairs in length. The sequences flanking the introns conform with th e GT/AG rule for splice junctions, and one exonic open reading frame can be identified in each of the introns. The observation that MT-like gene has t wo introns is the first of such a finding obtained from monocotyledonous pl ants.