Ginkgo Biloba Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Ginkgo Biloba, including details on ginkgo biloba, herbal remedies, side effects, benefits.

Molecular cloning and characterization of a glutathione S-transferase gene from Ginkgo biloba.

Liu X, Deng Z, Gao S, Sun X, Tang K

State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Institute of Genetics, Morgan-Tan International Center for Life Sciences, Fudan-SJTU-Nottingham Plant Biotechnology R&D Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) play an important role in the response of plants to changing environmental conditions. Here, we report the cloning of the GST gene for GST from Ginkgo biloba, a native medicinal plant species in China, by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). The full-length cDNA (designated as GbGST) was 1008 bp and contained a 684 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a polypeptide of 228 amino acids. The genomic sequence of GbGST was also obtained. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed that GbGST expressed in all tested tissues of G. biloba, including leaf, root and stem and the expression of GbGST could be induced by UV, MJ and drought treatments, suggesting that GbGST was potentially involved in plant's stress tolerance. To our knowledge, this is the first GST cDNA cloned from Ginkgoaceae. Based on comparative analyses of amino acid sequence, phylogeny, predicted three-dimensional structure together with the gene structure, the GbGST should be classified into the tau class.

Published 26 July 2007 in DNA Seq, 18(5): 371-9.
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