Cloning and Sequence Analysis of LEAFY Homologue from Pistacia chinensis Bunge

A pair of degenerate primers was designed according to the conservative regions at the 3' terminus of the floral meristem identity genes (LEAFY). A 361 bp cDNA fragment of LEAFY homologous gene (PcBLFY) coding for 120 amino acid residues was amplified via RT-PCR from flower buds of male, female and hermaphrodite plant of Pistacia chinensis Bunge respectively. Furthermore, 989 bp genomic fragment of PcBLFY was isolated by homology cloning strategy. Sequence analysis indicated that this fragment contained a 628 bp intron and the splicing sites were similar to other LEAFY homologous genes. The deduced amino acid sequence from the exons was blast in GenBank, it was found that there was 89%~99% similarity between PcBLFY and the corresponding regions of LEAFY and its orthologues. The three sexual plants shared a same PcBLFY gene fragment.