RESUMO
Objective: To study the characteristics of 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate cytidylytransferase (MCT) gene and to predict the structure and function site of MCT. Methods: Based on MCT gene of Picrorhiza kurrooa, NCBI website and bio-informatics software were used to predict and analyze the base distribution, amino acid composition, hydrophilicity or hydrophobicity, and secondary and three-level structures of hyper-conservative region. The results were compared with MCT gene sequences in other eight species and the related evolution analysis was followed. Results: The mRNA sequence of MCT gene in P. kurrooa was 1216 bp (GenBank: JQ991625.1), coding the protein containing 399 amino acids, and the relative molecular mass of protein was 44448.5 with 10.0% Ser in volume; In polypeptide, hydrophobic amino acid was 59.5% in volume, and the average hydropathicity was 0.050; The homology was found as high as 99% compared with MCT gene in Salvia miltiorrhiza. Conclusion: The MCT gene in P. kurrooa was quite stable and the coded protein was hydrophobic, which was quite conservative in evolution; The sequence information in conservative region gained in the test provides the basis for clone ofnovel gene in other species.