ABSTRACT
Maize seedlings, like seedlings of many other plants, are rich in cytochrome P450 (P450) enzyme activity. Four P450 genes (CYPzm1-4), isolated from a seedling-specific cDNA library, are characterized by a transient and seedling-specific expression pattern. The maximum steady state mRNA levels are reached at 3 days in root and at 7 days in shoot tissue, respectively. All four genes belong to one gene family and are closely related to the CYP71 family of plant P450 genes, which includes the enzymes of the ripening avocado fruit (CYP71A1) and eggplant hypocotyls (CYP71A2, A3, A4). The expression of these related P450 genes in monocot and dicot plants indicates that these enzymes play a significant role in plants; however, the in vivo enzyme functions are unknown. The divergence of the four members of the maize gene family is sufficiently high to account for different substrate and/or reaction specificity. Although the general expression pattern of the four genes is identical, the maximum steady-state mRNA levels vary in different maize lines. In situ hybridisation reveals the highest mRNA levels in the coleoptile, the first developed leaflets, the ground tissue of the nodular complex, and in the cortex and pith of the region of cell division in the root. The mapping of the maize CYPzm genes shows that, as in animals, P450 genes of the same family can be clustered. The presence of the CYPzm gene cluster in maize argues for generation of distinct plant P450 gene families by gene duplication.
Subject(s)
Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System/genetics , Genes, Plant , Zea mays/enzymology , Zea mays/genetics , Amino Acid Sequence , Base Sequence , Benzoxazines , Consensus Sequence , Conserved Sequence , Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System/biosynthesis , DNA, Plant/genetics , Gene Expression , Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic , Gene Expression Regulation, Plant , Genome, Plant , Molecular Sequence Data , Multigene Family , Oxazines/analysis , Oxazines/metabolism , Phylogeny , Plant Roots/enzymology , Plant Shoots/enzymology , Sequence Analysis, DNAABSTRACT
Genetic instability in Streptomyces species often involves large deletions sometimes accompanied by DNA amplification. Two such systems in Streptomyces lividans 66 involve the production of mutants sensitive to chloramphenicol and the production of mutants resistant to the galactose analogue 2-deoxygalactose, respectively. Overlapping cosmids were isolated that span the ca. 1 Mb region between the two amplifiable regions. The structure of the region was confirmed by restriction mapping using the rarely cutting enzymes AseI, BfrI and DraI and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. The region contains a non-clonable gap flanked by inverted repeats; the structure is consistent with the presence of a physical gap, i.e. a linear chromosome.
