Isolation and Identification of Specifically Expressed Gene GhF1 in

Cotton Science 2005，17(5)：259-263

Isolation and Identification of Specifically Expressed Gene GhF1 in
Cotton Fiber Cells
SUN Jie^1,2，LI Yan-jun² ，LI Yuan-li¹， WANG Ruo-hai³
(1. Institute of Microbiology , Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China ; 2. College of Agriculture, Key Laboratory of Oasis Ecology Agriculture of BINGTUAN, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832000, China; 3. Cotton Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Cotton Genetic Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture, Anyang 455000, China)

Abstract: Fluorescence differential display (FDD) technique was use to identify genes that are specifically or preferentially expressed in cotton fiber cells. A full-length cDNA of differential display cDNA fragments was cloned with rapid amplification of the cDNA ends. The cDNA contains an open reading frame of 622 bp encoding a protein of 66 amino acids. 3'-UTR of the cDNA is 85 bp and 5'-UTR is 389 bp. The gene was designated GhF1. Southern blot analysis showed that the gene had two copies in upland cotton genomic. PCR analysis using sequence of the cDNA as primer and genomic DNA as template showed the gene had no intron in cotton genomic. Northern blot analysis using the full-length cDNA as probe was performed to investigate the expressed level of GhF1 in various organ and in the developing cotton fiber cells. The results showed that the gene was specifically expressed in fiber cells and its transcripts were abundant at the primary cell wall elongation stage and the expressed level decreased with the fiber cell development, inferring that GhF1 may play a role in polar elongation of cotton fiber cells. Sequence comparison to GenBank indicats GhF1 is a new gene and its function is unknown.

Key words: cotton; fiber-specific expression; Northern blot