Flavonoids are a group of
secondary metabolites found in
plants. They have many pharmacological functions and
play an important
role in
Chinese sumac(
Rhus chinensis),which is a well-known traditional
Chinese medicinal plant.
Chalcone isomerase( CHI,EC 5. 5. 1. 6) is one of the key
enzymes in the
flavonoids biosynthesis pathway. In this
paper,the full-length c
DNA sequence encoding the
chalcone isomerase from R. chinensis( designated as Rc CHI) was cloned by RT-PCR and rapid-amplification of c
DNA Ends(
RACE). The Rc CHI c
DNA sequence was 1 058 bp and the
open reading frame( ORF) was 738 bp. The ORF predicted to encode a 245-
amino acid polypeptide. Rc CHI
gene contained an
intron and two
exons. The
sequence alignments revealed Rc CHI shared47. 1%-71. 6% identity with the homologues in other
plants.
Real-time PCR analysis showed that the total
flavonoid levels were positively correlated with
tissue-specific expressions of Rc CHI
mRNA in different
tissues. The
recombinant protein was successfully expressed in an
Escherichia coli strain with the p GEX-6 P-1 vector. In this
paper,the CHI
gene was cloned and characterized in the
family of
Anacardiaceae and
will help us to obtain better
knowledge of the
flavonoids biosynthesis of the
flavonoid compounds in R. chinensis.